News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 20

NEWS-PRESS, SATURDAY, APRIL 1 1, 1992 Noriega returns to high-security prison, as wife pleads innocent By The Associated Press imiim i i 'v i vl Ai I offer with Felicidad Noriega's attorney, Leon Tozo. The ousted Panamanian leader's wife faces redrawn charges of criminal mischief and petty theft instead of the original grand theft count, the prosecutor added. If no deal is reached, trial has been set for June 15, and the maximum sentence would be five years on each count. Her husband, meanwhile, was back at the Metropolitan Correctional Center outside Miami, where he was taken after he surrendered to U.S. invasion troops in January 1990.

During his seven-month trial that ended Thursday, Noriega resided much of the time in a basement cell at the courthouse. What happens next to Noriega depends on the federal Bureau of Prisons, said acting Miami U.S. Attorney James McAdams. Noriega may remain at the Miami prison until his July 10 sentencing, or he could be moved to a high security facility such as the federal prison at Marion, 111. After his sentencing, he is likely to be transferred to Tampa where he faces trial on a marijuana-smuggling Indictment.

MIAMI Manuel Noriega was moved from Miami's federal courthouse back to a high-security prison suite Friday in the wake of his conviction on drug and racketeering charges. Hours earlier, the ousted Panamanian leader's wife, Felicidad Noriega, had an attorney enter an innocent plea in state court to charges she and a friend stole buttons from expensive dresses at a department store last month. Her prosecutor, Anne Lyons, said the Dade State Attorney's office has made an offer that would keep her put of jail. "She has no priors, so we're making an offer of pretrial intervention and restitution," Lyons said. If Felicidad Noriega completes the pretrial program without incident, her record would be expunged, said Lyons.

The prosecutor said she has not yet discussed the The Associated Press Manuel Noriega Is driven Friday from federal court in Miami to a South Dade County prison. Casflir iJuing hni JL WHiUF 3 inext? Cuban leader, others implicated during trial By The Associated Press MIAMI Manuel Noriega's trial Implicated Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Nicaragua's Sandinistas, a mysterious U.S. diplomat and others, but federal prosecutors refused to say Friday if more indictments are on the way. "We can't mention any ongoing Investigations we might have," act- inp Minmi II 5 At. la! In jMHk torney James dams said in the wane oi we uusieu Panamanian leader's conviction on eight drugand racketeering charges.

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$219 i CASTRO indictment to-gether said more cases are possible. "There's a lot of fertile ground out there it's a matter of how you attack it, and you certainly need a lot of cooperation," said Richard Grego-rie, who now works for the Dade State Attorney's office. In some cases, he said, a five-year statute of limitations makes prosecution of Noriega's accused cohorts difficult. But the same racketeering laws that helped convict Noriega could kick in if prosecutors find an ongoing conspiracy. Castro has often been rumored to be a target of U.S.

drug probes, and in one Noriega racketeering count, the jury specifically determined the Cuban leader was also linked to Colombia's Medellin cocaine cartel. They found Noriega flew to Havana in July 1984 to have Castro mediate a dispute that arose when Panamanian troops raided a drug lab the cartel had paid their leader $4 million to protect. Mediation itself is not enough to indict, said But it could be coupled with other evidence. Convicted cartel leader Carlos Lehder testified he dealt directly with Castro's brother Raul, as well as fugitive U.S. financier Robert Vesco, to route cocaine flights through Cuba.

Lehder even told the court he was working with U.S. drug agents on a Cuba-related case, but the head of Miami's Drug Enforcement Administration office, Tom Cash, later downplayed any such probe. "I doubt you'll see a flurry of specific indictments out of this you're more likely to see that evidence in this case is used as building blocks for other cases," said Mark Schnapp, who worked with Gregorie. Other Latin American leaders tied directly or indirectly to the cartel during the trial Included Nicaragua's former Sandinista President, Daniel Ortega; former Panamanian President Nicholas Ardito Barletta; former Colombian President Alfonso Lopez Michelsen; and Cordell Thompson, currently with the Ministry of Tourism in the Bahamas. COUNTRY COLONIAL BEDROOM GROUP AT A SUPER PRICE save $291 ON 4 pieces i'S-- It looks super, too.

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