Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 Source: New York Daily News (NY) Copyright: 2003 Daily News, L.P. Contact: http://www.nydailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/295 Author: Austin Fenner MOM PLEADS FOR DRUG MULE A Queens Family Court judge delayed the sentencing of a 13-year-old drug mule yesterday, allowing city investigators to weigh a request by the boy's mother that he be placed in a facility near her Atlanta-area home, lawyers said. "I want it to be over," said the boy's mother, Alissa Walden. "I want him home." Last month, Judge Fran Lebow found the boy, Prince Nnaedozie Umegbolu, guilty of smuggling 87 packets of heroin in his belly when he arrived in New York on a flight from Nigeria in April. The Probation Department recommended that Umegbolu be placed with the state Office of Children and Family Services, which runs detention centers. Officials said five juvenile facilities rejected the teen, saying he needed more structure or a more secure environment or citing the severity of the charges. Umegbolu faces up to 18 months in a juvenile facility when he is sentenced. Lebow also can release the teen from custody with time served. Defense lawyers said Umegbolu, who was living in Nigeria with his paternal grandparents, was pressed into becoming a heroin mule by drug dealers who threatened his life. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake