DRUG SMUGGLER PLEADS GUILTY; USED BABY FOR COVER

The niece of a drug smuggler knew which baby formula cans to use to feed
the infant traveling with her--the cans with real formula inside were
lighter than the ones containing liquid cocaine, authorities said Friday.

Tabitha Hylton, 27, a former Chicago resident now living in Minnesota,
pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges for her role in the
Panama-to-Chicago drug ring run by her uncle, Paul Kelly.

So far, 12 people, including Kelly, have been convicted out of 19 charged.

More indictments are expected in the case, in which women used infants as
cover to smuggle liquid cocaine in infant-formula cans.

Hylton, who is cooperating with the government, is expected to be sentenced
Oct. 2 to more than three years in prison.

In January and February of 1999, Hylton made two trips abroad as part of
the smuggling operation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Levine said.

On her first trip, she borrowed a baby from another woman she knew to take
down to Panama as cover to bring back the liquid cocaine in the baby
formula cans. Those cans were mixed together with real formula in Hylton's
baby bag, but she knew which was which by their weight.

On her second trip, Hylton accompanied and watched out for a younger woman
who was smuggling heroin packed in a surgical glove and inserted in her body.