Former Police Officer Charged with Tampering With Evidence



A former Archbald police officer and school resource officer at Valley View High School is on the other side of the law tonight.
Travis Chamberlain is accused of destroying two cell phones, which may have contained evidence that he was having a relationship with a teenage girl, who may have been a student at the time.
According to the Archbald police chief, Chamberlain had been an officer since September 2009.
He offered to resign last month, well after this investigation was underway.
Prosecutors say the 26-year-old could have faced even more serious charges but in this case the timing and destroyed cell phones would have been critical.
Investigators say Chamberlain wasn't the full-time school resource officer at Valley View High School. He filled in for approximately three months earlier this year when he may have crossed the line.
His arrest has people talking.
"You can't trust anybody and it's a sad, sad thing. I grew up trusting everybody, everybody," Beverly Black of Jermyn said.
According to court documents, Chamberlain is accused of destroying two cell phones that may have contained communication between him and the girl.
"It's a scary thought that the police officers, the people we're putting in the schools to protect the kids, are the ones we're most concerned with," Tom Conserette of Archbald said.
As of right now, Chamberlain has only been charged with one misdemeanor, tampering with physical evidence.
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer McCambridge says Chamberlain "could possibly" have been charged with more serious charges, including felony sex crimes, if they could have established an inappropriate relationship started while the girl was a student.
That's because of a new law that holds employees of a school district to a higher position of power and trust.
Because the cell phones were destroyed, detectives say this investigation was hampered.
"Timing is important in these types of crimes. The content of those messages and/or the timing of them may have shed more light on exactly what was going on between them," McCambridge said.
McCambridge says while the contact may have been legal if it started after graduation, the destruction of the phones raises a red flag and sets a bad example for other school resource officers who are placed in schools to help students.
"The majority of them do the right thing and a good job at it. It's just unfortunate that these ones that do the wrong thing and take the wrong action seem to always rise to the forefront," McCambridge said.
Chamberlain's attorney declined to comment on the case.
If the 26-year-old pleads guilty or is found guilty, that would mean he could no longer be a police officer.
Travis Chamberlain is the brother of Matthew Chamberlain, a former police officer from Wyoming County who recently made headlines for selling an AK-47 out of the back of a patrol vehicle while on duty.