>From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM > >[Should transfer him to Kosovo, where his talents >could be put to better use - and maybe earn him a >medal...or a promotion.] > > > >U.S. Colonel Gets 10 Months >In Drug Smuggling Case >Thursday, July 13, 2000 >NEW YORK � A U.S. Army officer who headed U.S. >anti-drug efforts in Colombia was sentenced to five >months in prison and five months of home detention on >Thursday for concealing his knowledge that his wife >was laundering drug money while they lived in Bogota, >capital of the South American nation. >Col. James Hiett, of Seaford, Va., a former head of >the Military Group at the American Embassy in Bogota >and commander of the U.S. Army's anti-drug operation >in Colombia, pleaded guilty in April to concealing >knowledge of a felony. > >Hiett was also sentenced to seven additional months of >supervised release, which is akin to probation. He >could have been sentenced to a maximum of three years >in prison and fined $250,000. > >Colombia's new National Police chief Gen. Luis Ernesto >Gilibert condemned the sentence as a "joke." U.S. >officials have long criticized jail terms for drug >traffickers in Colombia as too lenient while >threatening capos extradited to the United States with >multiple life terms. > >"This is almost a joke. When Colombian >narco-traffickers are sent to the United States they >are given long sentences," Gilibert said. "We're very >disappointed when we see such a derisory sentence." > >U.S. Army officials have been waiting for Hiett's >trial to wrap up before taking action against the >colonel, which could range from no punishment to a >court martial. He had been set to retire in November. > >After declining to speak on his own behalf before >Judge Edward Korman, chief judge of Eastern District, >Hiett said: "The only thing I did, that I consciously >did, was try to protect my wife." > >In pleading guilty, Hiett admitted that his wife, >Laurie Anne, made two trips in April 1999 from Bogota >to New York, returning with $25,000, but he never >questioned her about it. > >He pleaded guilty to "misprision of a felony" for >failing to tell government officials that his wife was >laundering drug money by moving cash between the two >countries. > >Saying he was disturbed by Hiett's silence as well as >his failure to apologize, Korman told him: "You spent >the money. ... You had to know what the source was." >After handing down sentence, Korman said: "Some term >of imprisonment is required for the betrayal of trust" >involved in the case. > >Hiett's wife said she never told her husband about her >scheme, and while he said he never questioned her >about it, he admitted he spent $14,000 on personal >bills. He said he became aware of her activities in >June 1999 when "I was informed that she had been >smuggling narcotics to New York City." > >Hiett must surrender Jan. 8. He requested imprisonment >in Texas to be near his wife, who was sentenced in >April to a five-year term in Ft. Worth for conspiring >to smuggle drugs into the country. > >During his time in Colombia, Hiett oversaw U.S. troops >there who trained security forces for counter-drug >operations and also protected radar bases used to >track aircraft carrying drugs. > >Hiett's sentencing comes just two weeks after Congress >approved a record $1.3 billion package of mostly >military aid to help Colombia fight drug trafficking >and Marxist rebels. > >Last week, a former chauffeur at the U.S. Embassy in >Bogota accused U.S. officials of covering up the scale >of a heroin-smuggling ring involving the Hietts. > >Ex-driver and bodyguard Jorge Ayala, held in a top >security Bogota prison pending a U.S. extradition >request related to his role in the scheme, also >alleged in an interview with Reuters that a Drug >Enforcement Administration official helped smuggle >drugs from Colombia to the United States as U.S. >Marine guards turned a blind eye. > >The Department of the Army, which led the initial >inquiry, said Tuesday there was an "ongoing >investigation" into the embassy-based heroin ring, but >declined to say whether the DEA official named by >Ayala was under scrutiny. > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Get Yahoo! Mail � Free email you can access from anywhere! >http://mail.yahoo.com/ > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >BEST PRICES ON THE NET AT IMANDI.COM > >Cheapest prices on new cars, insurance, airfare, maids, custom pc's, >mortgages, moving and more! Tell us what you want. We locate it for >free -- across town & across the country. > >http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/imandi __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
