Pubdate: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2000, The Tribune Co. Address: P.O. Box 191, Tampa, FL 33601 Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm Author: Sarah Huntley of the Tribune 2 MORE DEALERS SENTENCED IN DRUG STING Two more convicted crack dealers were sent to federal prison Monday after being ensnared in a sting involving a controversial, big-ticket informant. U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. ordered Theodore McCullough, 39, to serve 11 years and eight months. The judge sentenced Deborah Hills, 36, to eight years and four months. The pair, both of Palmetto, join two other dealers who were part of the same crack ring and who were sentenced this month. The ring operated in Bradenton. Local and federal law enforcement agents investigated the group for some time. But the arrests didn't come until the ring was successfully infiltrated by the Drug Enforcement Administration's second-highest paid informant, Andrew Chambers. Chambers, of St. Louis, has earned more than $2 million in 15 years of informing for the DEA and maybe as much as $2 million more from other law enforcement agencies. In recent months, he has become a lightning rod for criticism about paid informants. Chambers' specialty is luring suspects into drug deals with undercover agents. He has done it from coast to coast - despite a lengthy arrest record and findings by two federal appeals courts that he lied under oath about his criminal past and his education. His status as an informant changed in January when the DEA, barraged by critical news reports about Chambers, suspended him pending further investigation. In addition to the federal case, Chambers has been linked to several state cocaine cases. The defendants in those cases are awaiting trial and their lawyers plan to challenge Chambers if prosecutors put him on the stand. - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson