D-M AIRMAN GIVEN 5 YEARS IN COCAINE-TRAFFICKING STING

A Davis-Monthan airman will spend five years in prison and is being booted
from the military for her part in a massive cocaine-trafficking sting.

Senior Airman Manuela D.C. Scott, of the 355th Mission Support Squadron,
was sentenced Wednesday to five years in confinement and a dishonorable
discharge. She also was fined $4,000 and must forfeit future pay and
allowances.

Scott had pleaded guilty to drug smuggling and conspiracy. A military jury
also found her guilty of accessing Air Force records in order to sell the
names and addresses of other Air Force personnel to someone she thought was
a drug runner, but who actually was an undercover FBI agent. She had
pleaded not guilty to a charge of information peddling.

Scott was involved in helping another defendant run 66 pounds of cocaine
out of Tucson in a government vehicle in March 2004.

She is one of seven Davis-Monthan personnel, including three base police
officers, accused of running cocaine for what they thought was a drug
trafficking ring.

It actually was an FBI sting operation. The sting, dubbed "Operation Lively
Green," has led to criminal charges against 40 people, including prison
guards, police officers and members of the Arizona Army National Guard.

Two more D-M courts-martial are scheduled for October in connection with
the sting.