Pubdate: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company Contact: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212) 556-3622 Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: Alan Feuer U.S. COLONEL IS IMPLICATED IN DRUG CASE A United States Army colonel who once led the government's antidrug campaign in Colombia was linked yesterday for the first time to an international drug-smuggling case in which his wife has pleaded guilty. The colonel, James C. Hiett, is expected to plead guilty on April 17 to charges accusing him of failing to advise government officials as soon as possible that his wife, Laurie Anne Hiett, was engaged in money laundering, according to court papers filed by an assistant United States attorney, Lee G. Dunst. After an investigation by the United States Customs Service, Mrs. Hiett, 36, admitted in January that she had conspired to smuggle more than $700,000 worth of heroin out of Bogota last year and had flown to New York at least twice to pick up payments for the drugs. Mrs. Hiett said she had hidden the scheme from her husband, who led all American military activity in the country from July 1998 until August 1999. "I never told him what I was doing," Mrs. Hiett said in court. A three-month inquiry conducted last year by the Army Criminal Investigation Division cleared Colonel Hiett, saying he had no prior knowledge of his wife's crimes. Harvey Perritt, an Army spokesman, refused to comment yesterday on the colonel's case other than to say that he is still serving as a training officer at Fort Monroe in Virginia. Mr. Dunst also refused to comment on Colonel Hiett's expected guilty plea. As part of her plea in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Mrs. Hiett said she had shipped six brown paper packages of what she thought was cocaine from Bogota to New York City in a conspiracy that took advantage of the special mailing privileges at the American Embassy. The shipments, in fact, contained heroin, chemical tests determined. The charges against Colonel Hiett carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The latest developments come just days after the United States House of Representatives approved a $1.7 billion plan to help Colombia and other Andean countries combat drug trafficking. Colonel Hiett's admission is sure to prove an embarrassment for the Clinton administration as it pushes for Congressional support. The colonel's mission in Colombia, a country where American support for the military is controversial among many average Colombians, was in itself a sensitive one. Colonel Hiett was in charge of about 200 American troops that trained Colombian security forces in counternarcotics operations, which invariably lead to military engagements with the guerrillas who control much of the rugged regions of Colombia where drugs are processed for shipment. - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson