COLONEL'S WIFE MAILED DRUGS, U.S. SAYS

BOGOTA, Colombia - The wife of the U.S. military's highest officer in
Colombia is accused of shipping cocaine to New York.

While U.S. Army Col. James Hiett oversaw counternarcotics operations
as the highest-ranking U.S. military officer posted in Columbia, his
wife allegedly was sending packages full of cocaine through the U.S.
government's overseas mail system, prosecutors say.

At least six times in April and May, Laurie Anne Hiett sent small
boxes of cocaine to addresses in New York, court documents charge.
Aghast Army investigators launched a criminal inquiry after one of the
packages was intercepted by U.S. Customs on May 23 in Miami.

Investigators say a smuggling plot existed between Laurie Hiett and
the U.S. Embassy chauffeur who drove her husband

"There's stuff in here for a Hollywood movie. It's wild," said one
Defense Department official.

At one point during an interrogation, Laurie Hiett, who is in her
mid-30s, grew "extremely agitated" and blurted out, "I'm afraid
they'll kill me," court documents say.

Officially, James Hiett is cleared. He sought - and received - a
transfer from his post in this cocaine-producing country.

"The investigation did not reveal any evidence that Col. Hiett had any
prior knowledge of the alleged criminal actions of his spouse, nor any
involvement," said Raul I. Duany, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern
Command in Miami, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin
America.

Laurie Hiett was charged Thursday in Brooklyn with conspiracy to
distribute cocaine, Lee Dunst, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern
District of New York, said in a telephone interview. She was freed on
$150,000 bail, he said.

If convicted, she could face 10 years to life in prison.

Neither Hiett nor the Miami lawyer who Dunst said represents her, Paul
Lazarus, could be reached for comment.

The Hietts arrived in Colombia in early 1998. Laurie Hieff grew fond
of northern Bogota's Zona Rosa, a fashionable district of discos,
boutiques and restaurants, and was often there in the company of Jorge
Alfonso Ayala, a Colombian who had worked for 15 years at the embassy
and was assigned to be her husband's driver, the documents say.

In the court documents, Laurie Hiett told Army investigators that she
never knew what was in the packages she mailed, and that she did so
only as a favor to Ayala, the embassy chauffeur.

Ayala rejected Laurie Hiett's assertion and told Army investigators
June 2 that "Hiett abused cocaine." "Further, Ayala stated that Hiett
had asked him on prior occasions to assist her in obtaining cocaine,"
a court affidavit says.

Laurie Hiett mailed the first package April 13, the affidavit
says.

She signed U.S. Customs declarations for all six packages. She
declared that the first package contained a T-shirt, picture, candy
and coffee. She wrote on the forms that later packages contained
books, Colombian artifacts, a birthday present and a candle, the
affidavit asserts.