cannabisnews.com: Wife: Anti-Drug Colonel Knew Nothing





Wife: Anti-Drug Colonel Knew Nothing
Posted by FoM on January 27, 2000 at 14:51:22 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: New York Times
The wife of the former commander of the U.S. Army's anti-drug operation in Colombia pleaded guilty Thursday to drug charges and said her husband knew nothing of a plan to smuggle $700,000 worth of heroin. ``I never told him what I was doing,'' Laurie Anne Hiett, 36, told reporters said after pleading guilty in federal court. Still free on bond, she faces up to nine years in prison at sentencing on April 28. 
Hiett -- whose husband, Col. James Hiett, was head of U.S. anti-drug operations in Bogota -- talked openly with reporters about her past drug addiction and said she was sorry her case made headlines while the United States is waging a costly war on drugs. ``There are people dying every day to fight this, and then I did what I did,'' she said. ``I'm not proud of it. ... I just truly apologize.'' Hiett surrendered to federal authorities in August after they intercepted two 1.2 kilo packages of heroin she had mailed to New York from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. The parcels had Hiett's return address. She claimed she sent them for Jorge Ayala, a civilian driver for U.S. military commanders in Colombia, and that they contained books, candy, coffee and Colombian artifacts. She pleaded innocent and was freed on bond. In recent months, her attorney sought a plea bargain with prosecutors. One of her codefendants, Hernan Arcila, 54, pleaded guilty on Jan. 5 to drug conspiracy, admitting he accepted shipments from Colombia at his New York home. Ayala, who was also named in a 13-count indictment, remains a fugitive. As part of her plea Thursday, Hiett told Magistrate Marilyn Go she shipped six packages from to Bogota to New York City, believing they contained cocaine. Tests on the two seized shipments revealed they were heroin. Hiett admitted flying to New York City twice to collect drug proceeds. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Dunst also said Hiett once took a trip to Miami carrying a half-kilo of cocaine. Hiett told Go she has stopped using drugs since her arrest. An Army investigation cleared Col. Hiett, who requested removal from his post in Colombia and was transferred to Fort Monroe, Va. New York prosecutors are still investigating. Hiett, who still lives with her husband and their two sons, told reporters she purposely kept her husband in the dark. ``At one point, he may have asked me why I was going to New York,'' she said. ``I just told him, `Don't ask me.''' NEW YORK (AP) Published: January 27, 2000Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company Related Articles:Wife of U.S. Army Colonel to Plead Guilty - 1/19/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4386.shtmlLeading Two Lives - 11/10/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3623.shtmlU.S. Commander's Wife Arrested in Drug Case - 11/07/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2387.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on January 27, 2000 at 16:19:25 PT
Typical. so typical
This is the WoSD in a nutshell: right under the nose of the premier military attache of the US, literally in his own bed, is a narco. While he is out planning raids on narcos, the narcos bring hard stuff into the country. While he is making speeches extolling the virtues of the DrugWar, his wife is snorting the very thing he rails against. The left hand doesn't even *know* there is a right hand, much less what it might be doing.If anything demonstrates the total insanity of the whole thing, it is this massively ironic point: he never knew. Not an inkling. Not a one. He is as clueless as his masters in Washington.And people like this are running things. 
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