Updated: 9/18/2008 8:51:05 PM
A University of Tennessee Police officer has been arrested and charged with selling a single roxicodone pill to a confidential informant.
The officer's attorney is blaming his client's ex-girlfriend.
Officer Matthew Chambers, 35, was arrested just before noon Wednesday by KPD officers at the UT Police Department headquarters.
Knoxville Police say they got a tip from an informant in early August that a UTPD officer was selling narcotics.
The Knoxville Police Department's investigation led to charges against Chambers for the sale and delivery of Schedule 2 narcotics.
Court records show Chambers sold drugs to an informant on August 20, just after 10 p.m. KPD spokesperson Darrell DeBusk says undercover officers were there as part of a sting, as well.
Specifically, Chambers is accused of selling prescription Roxicodone.
But Chambers' attorney says his client's former girlfriend is actually the confidential informant who helped police.
He says she wanted to bring down someone else to help her own case. The attorney says she is facing charges.
"I think it's kind of like a kid who says, 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,'" T. Scott Jones explained. "She called him for weeks upon weeks trying to convince him to sell to her, and it seems she finally caught him in a moment of weakness.
"How many drug cases have you seen over one roxicodone?"
Jones says his client checked himself into a local medical facility. While he wouldn't comment on his health condition, he admitted a drug addiction is a "matter of concern."
"Coupled with the pressure of his arrest, he knew he had to take steps to change things in his life," Jones explained.
Jones said the pill Chambers sold was prescribed to him as part of a pain management contract to deal with pain from a knee injury he suffered while bull-riding more than a decade ago.
According to Jones, Chambers re-injured his knee in 2005 while working for the Knox County Schools' Maintenance Division. In all, he said Chambers has had at least four operations.
Meanwhile, the complaint against Chambers explains the pill was sold in the parking lot of 3700 Sutherland Avenue, UT housing for married and graduate students.
According to UT, Chambers had been a courtesy officer there since January 2008. He received a discount on his rent in exchange for providing extra patrols and community outreach programs for residents.
Wednesday, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen IV had to tell UT Police Chief August Washington that Knoxville Police were going to take a UTPD officer into custody.
Chambers has been an officer with UTPD less than two years. He started working very special events in 2003 and became a full-time officer in 2007. He had been assigned to patrol on the night shift, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Before working for UTPD, Chambers also worked for Knox County Schools, as what school officials describe as "unskilled labor" in the Environmental Department. Chambers worked for the schools from July 1998 until the end of June, 2006, when the schools opted not to renew his contract.
He is on paid leave during the investigation. His police powers have been suspended, including turning in his badge and firearm.
There are no prior complaints in his record.
A statement by the university indicates UTPD performed two background checks on Chambers for his part-time employment and that a comprehensive investigation was conducted prior to his becoming a full-time officer.
