'Preppie Killer' Back in Jail After Drug Sting Bust ; Served 15 Years for 1986 Slaying

Oct 24, 01:23 PM

Current Headlines: By SAMUEL MAULL, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK The infamous "Preppie Killer" is back in the headlines and back behind bars.

More than two decades after strangling his teen lover in Central Park, Robert Chambers was jailed without bail Tuesday, arrested for peddling cocaine from a Manhattan high-rise.

Chambers, a college dropout whose Upper East Side upbringing led to his tabloid alias, said in court that he was too broke to hire an attorney.

Now 41, Chambers bore little resemblance to the Hollywood- handsome suspect charged in 1986 with killing Jennifer Levin during what he claimed was a rough sexual encounter. An unshaven Chambers appeared in a Manhattan courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back, wearing a black T-shirt, black sweatpants and dirty white sneakers.

Chambers was arrested Monday after an undercover investigation that began with complaints from neighbors about drug sales in the doorman building in midtown Manhattan. Police used a battering ram to smash down the apartment door to arrest Chambers, who fought violently with officers before he was taken into custody.

Police said undercover officers bought roughly a quarter kilogram of cocaine, with a street value of around $20,000, in eight buys over the summer. In the raid, police said they recovered 10 crack pipes and five small bags of cocaine.

"There was considerable traffic to his door," said police spokesman Paul Browne. "He was pretty indiscreet about it."

Chambers faces 14 counts of drug possession and sale, and will likely be charged with resisting arrest and assault. He could be sentenced to 150 years behind bars if convicted of the top charges.

Chambers became tabloid fodder after he was accused of killing Levin, an 18-year-old graduate of the exclusive Baldwin School, during a Central Park tryst in 1986.In 1988, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison. He ended up serving the maximum term because of discipline problems behind bars, including dealing drugs.

He was paroled on Valentine's Day 2003. While in jail, Chambers was rejected for parole five times and cited for heroin possession, weapon possession and assaulting a guard. He spent about one-third of his time in solitary confinement.

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