Accomplice of Colonel’s Wife Gets Prison

A house painter who helped an Army colonel’s wife smuggle drugs from Colombia was sentenced Friday to a longer prison term than she was--despite blaming her for orchestrating the widely publicized plot.

Judge Edward Korman sentenced the admitted middleman, Hernan Arcila, to five years, three months in prison. Two weeks ago, Korman gave a five-year sentence to Laurie Hiett, wife of the former commander of U.S. anti-drug operations in Colombia.

Both defendants had faced up to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges.

Authorities accused Hiett of shipping $700,000 in cocaine and heroin to Arcila’s home. She and Arcila, 51, were arrested after authorities intercepted two packages of heroin mailed from a post office at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota.

“I want to ask for forgiveness for the mistake I made,” said Arcila, who had no previous criminal record.

The case has embarrassed Army officials and ruined the military career of Col. James Hiett, accused of helping his wife launder $25,000 in illicit profits.

Arcila’s attorney, Telesforo Del Valle, had argued that his client was recruited by--and took orders from--Mrs. Hiett and his friend Jorge Ayala, a civilian driver for U.S. military commanders in Colombia. Ayala was arrested earlier this year in Colombia, where he is fighting extradition.

A native of Colombia who has lived in the United States for almost 30 years, Arcila had “a minor role compared to that of Laurie Hiett, who was able to use her position at the embassy . . . to orchestrate the whole conspiracy,” the lawyer told Korman.

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Lee Dunst argued that Arcila was a key participant in the crime: “Without him, it wouldn’t have been successful.”