COCAINE CHARGES FOR COMMANDER'S WIFE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The wife of an Army colonel involved in U.S.
counternarcotics operations in Colombia is facing federal charges of
shipping cocaine to the United States, officials said Thursday.

Laurie Hiett was charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics after
the U.S. Customs Service found parcels containing cocaine, include one
package in New York that carried Mrs. Hiett's name as its return
address, the officials said.

A warrant for her arrest has been issued by the U.S. District Court
Eastern District in New York, according to Navy Lt. Jane Campbell, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami.

Mrs. Hiett is the wife of Army Col. James Hiett, who at the time was
U.S. military group commander at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota.

In that job, he was in charge of all U.S. military activities in
Colombia, including counterdrug operations, according to Col. Ron
Williams, a Southern Command spokesman.

Williams said Hiett requested to be removed from the post after the
allegations arose and his transfer is pending.

An investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division in Panama
found ``no prior knowledge'' by Hiett of cocaine shipments to the
United States involving his wife, William said. The investigation
cleared Hiett of any involvement in criminal activity, he added.

Williams referred a reporter to the New York Attorney's Office for
information about Mrs. Hiett.

The weekly newspaper Village Voice reported on its Internet Web site
Thursday that a search warrant application said Mrs. Hiett admitted to
federal investigators she had mailed six packages for ``her husband's
chauffeur,'' but claimed that she did not know the contents of the
parcels.

On May 23, according to the Village Voice, one of those parcels was
searched by U.S. Customs agents in Miami and was found to contain 2.7
pounds of cocaine. Later a second parcel was intercepted in New York
and also found to contain cocaine.

The first package carried Mrs. Hiett's name as its return address and
was mailed from Bogota, the newspaper reported.