Former DEA Agent Denies Taking Part in Drug Thefts : Trial: Darnell Garcia disputes testimony by former colleagues that he helped them allegedly steal cocaine and heroin. He says he was out of town.

A former drug agent charged with drug trafficking testified Friday he was in Germany on the day he and another agent allegedly stole more than 200 pounds of cocaine from a drug dealer.

Darnell Garcia, the central figure in the worst corruption scandal in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration, also denied in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that he and agent John Jackson stole more than two pounds of heroin from a DEA evidence vault.

Jackson and another DEA agent, Wayne Countryman, pleaded guilty last August to drug trafficking charges. Both have testified that Garcia, 44, was heavily involved with them in stealing drugs and cash.

Testifying for the second day in the trial that began Nov. 20, Garcia continued going through his personal calendar books in an attempt to rebut prosecution evidence of his whereabouts on dates when the alleged drug thefts occurred.

Under questioning by defense attorney Mark Overland, Garcia testified he was in Germany on personal business to pick up some gold chains on Nov. 11, 1985, the day Jackson contends he and Garcia stole cocaine from the condominium of a drug dealer.

Asked if he and Jackson stole the heroin from the DEA evidence vault on Oct. 5, 1984--as Jackson testified--Garcia answered, “No.”

Garcia, a martial-arts expert, also denied he joined Jackson in breaking into a Los Angeles house to steal more than four pounds of cocaine from a dealer between March 20 and March 30, 1985.

Referring to one of his calendar books, Garcia testified he was in Florida participating in a car race, then in Riverside County investigating a case during that period.

Prosecutors allege that Garcia has about $3 million in drug profits frozen in foreign bank accounts.

Garcia contends the money represents profits made through smuggling gold jewelry.

Garcia fled the United States in late 1988 and was arrested in Luxembourg in July, 1989, after an international manhunt.

Garcia’s lawyers contend their client feared assassination by former colleagues upset over a racial discrimination lawsuit he had won against the agency.