Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994                   TAG: 9410250024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Medium

SPY'S WIFE GETS 5 YEARS

Provided she earns time off for good behavior, Rosario Ames could be released within four years and then move to her native Colombia, where her son, Paul, now is living with relatives, authorities said. Her voice broke as she begged for a much quicker reunion with the 5-year-old.

U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton appeared unmoved as he delivered his decision after a tense and emotional 40 minutes at the federal courthouse in Alexandria.

Rosario Ames and her lawyer portrayed Aldrich Ames as an intimidating master spy and her as a victim of ``the worst form of spousal abuse.'' The prosecutor responded with a sharp attack condemning her as a greedy co-conspirator who has taken less and less blame for her actions during the eight months since her arrest.

Looking pale and exhausted, Rosario Ames insisted that it was only under duress that she had aided her husband once she discovered, in 1992, that he was turning over CIA secrets to the Russian government. By then, the veteran counterintelligence officer had deceived both his family and the CIA for seven years, she said.

Referring to a report that the Russians still may be holding more than a million dollars for Aldrich Ames or his wife and son, Rosario Ames told the judge: ``When I leave prison, I will have nothing, but I certainly will not accept their blood money.''

Hilton sentenced Rosario Ames to the minimum term under federal sentencing guidelines and the time contained in her April plea bargain agreement. However, under federal rules he could have given her a less stringent term if he found a compelling reason to do so, just as he could have given her up to 15 years if he felt it appropriate.