🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm sure this is the journalistic snapshot taken at the tail end of
what would be a very interesting story if it were actually ever told.

From http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Cocaine-Colonels-Wife.html


Filed at 9:03 p.m. EDT


By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- While Army Col. James Hiett was fighting the war on
drugs in Colombia, federal authorities say his wife was conspiring with
the enemy.

Laurie Anne Hiett, 36, is accused of shipping cocaine from Bogota,
Colombia, to New York as part of a small Colombian narcotics ring, and
even marking her own return address on some of the shipments.

Mrs. Hiett, who has denied the allegations, surrendered Thursday in New
York on drug conspiracy charges. She was later released on $150,000
bail.

If convicted, she faces up to 12 years in prison.

Her attorney declined comment Friday.

The Army insists Colonel Hiett, the head of U.S. anti-drug operations
in Colombia, was unaware of the alleged crimes.

An investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division in Panama
cleared him of any criminal activity, and the U.S. Southern Command in
Miami said his request to be transferred is pending.

The investigation of Mrs. Hiett started in May when U.S. Customs agents
conducting a routine search in Miami intercepted a package containing
1.2 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimate $30,000, according to papers
filed in federal court in Brooklyn.

Authorities say the package was marked with Mrs. Hiett's return address
and was shipped from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to a New York address.

When undercover officers went to that address, they found more cocaine
and documents naming Jorge Ayala, a civilian driver for U.S. military
commanders in Colombia. They also arrested Hernan Arcila, who told them
he had received five or six packages from the same source, authorities
said.

Army officials in Bogota found that Mrs. Hiett had sent several
packages in April and May to either Arcila's home or a post office box
rented by his sister. They said paperwork signed by Mrs. Hiett listed
the contents as books, candy, coffee and Colombian artifacts.

When Mrs. Hiett was confronted by investigators in June, she said she
had shipped the packages for Ayala and didn't knowing what was in them.
But the investigators said became flustered in a second interview and
``stated, in substance, `I'm afraid they'll kill me.'''

Mrs. Hiett ``became extremely agitated and accused Army investigators
of making up a story to get her in trouble,'' they said.

Ayala told investigators that Mrs. Hiett used cocaine and had asked him
to buy the drug in a section of Bogata known for drug sales. Other
witnesses said they had seen her there before, the court papers said.

The U.S. earmarked $289 million for counterdrug activity in Colombia
this year. Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug control chief, said
recently that current efforts were falling short and the situation had
reached emergency proportions.






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