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Andrew Daulton Lee | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1952-01-03)January 3, 1952 (age 73) |
| Known for | Espionage |
Andrew Daulton Lee (January 3, 1952) is a former drug dealer who was convicted of espionage for his involvement in theCold War spying activities of his childhood friend,Christopher Boyce.[1][2][3]
Lee was the adopted eldest son of Dr. Daulton Lee, a wealthy California physician, and graduated fromPalos Verdes High School in 1970. His lifelong friendship with Boyce led him into espionage activities after Boyce, an employee of US defense contractorTRW (headquartered in theLos Angeles suburb ofRedondo Beach), began stealing classified documents detailing how to decrypt secure US government message traffic and detailed specifications of the latest US spy satellites with the intention of delivering them to agents of theSoviet Union. Boyce lured Lee into the espionage by telling him theCIA was spying onAustralia. With Boyce's stolen documents, Lee traveled toMexico City, where he delivered them to Soviet embassy officials at Boyce's direction. Lee often used these trips as an opportunity to engage in drug deals.
Lee and Boyce made an agreement to evenly split the profits from the espionage ring, and Boyce had used his share mainly for his personal use. Lee used his split of the profits to further his drug business, purchasing more expensive drugs, such asheroin, and being able to gain tremendous profits by selling the expensive and rare drugs in the United States. Boyce maintained that he continued with the espionage activity because Lee threatened and blackmailed him. He alleged that Lee made copies of the stolen documents with the intention of selling them to theChinese, but this was false testimony by Boyce to exculpate himself to get a lighter sentence.[citation needed]
In January 1977, Lee (with top secret microfilm in his possession) was arrested by Mexican police in front of the Soviet embassy in Mexico City for littering.[2] Under interrogation and torture, he confessed to espionage. Contrary to Boyce's story, Lee never blackmailed Boyce nor did he implicate Boyce in the espionage and did not testify against Boyce. Lee was returned to the United States, where he was convicted of espionage on May 14.[4] He was sentenced byfederal district judgeRobert Kelleher to life in prison and moved to thefederal penitentiary inLompoc, California, while Boyce received a sentence of forty years.[5]
When Boyce escaped from prison in early 1980, Lee was immediately remanded to another facility inTerre Haute, Indiana.[2] Boyce approached Lee 24 hours before the escape and asked Lee to participate. Lee responded "I came in the front door, I'm going out the same way".[citation needed]
Lee was portrayed by actorSean Penn in directorJohn Schlesinger's 1985 movieThe Falcon and the Snowman, based on the book of the same name byRobert Lindsey. Lee's drug-dealing earned him the nickname "The Snowman", while Boyce's interest infalconry won him his own sobriquet. Boyce was played in the film by actorTimothy Hutton.
After 21 years of incarceration, Lee was released on parole in 1998. Kathleen Mills, an activist who had worked towards earning Lee's parole, turned her attention towards the release of Boyce following Lee's freedom and eventually married Boyce. After his release, Lee briefly worked forSean Penn as his personal assistant.[6][7]