Defendant Admits Credit-Card Use : Trial: Scott Collins testifies that he found victim’s wallet in abandoned car but had nothing to do with slaying.

A man charged with murder in the death of a Valencia man denied Wednesday that he had anything to do with the slaying and explained that he had used the victim’s credit cards after finding the man’s wallet in his abandoned car.

Scott Forrest Collins, 21, testified on his own behalf as his murder trial wound down in Van Nuys Superior Court. The Palmdale man was released from a state prison one month before the body of Fred D. Rose, 41, was found near a North Hollywood railroad track on Jan. 23, 1992.

Prosecutors allege that Collins abducted Rose and forced him to give up the secret code to his automated teller machine before killing him. Rose was last seen leaving his Lancaster office, about four hours before his death.

Appearing pale but well-dressed in a gray suit, Collins told the jury that he was having trouble finding work after being paroled on an armed-robbery conviction. After a day of searching for work in Lancaster, Collins said he was walking along Sierra Highway when he saw a 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass with the keys in the ignition.

The doors were locked, but the rear window was slightly open. Collins said he used this opportunity to break into the vehicle.

“I had recently got out of prison and my values weren’t real straight,” he said.

He started the car, Collins testified, and drove toward the San Fernando Valley with the intention of seeing some friends. When he stopped for gas on the way, Collins said he discovered Rose’s wallet in the glove compartment.

The wallet contained not only Rose’s credit cards and ATM card, but a scrap of paper with numbers that appeared to be the code to obtain cash from the bank machine.

The jury had previously seen a security videotape of Collins using Rose’s ATM card to withdraw money at a Northridge bank. On the tape, Collins is seen wearing a hard hat that belonged to Rose, who worked as a construction supervisor.

Collins made the withdrawal more than an hour after Rose disappeared and about 2 1/2 hours before witnesses heard gunshots at the site where Rose’s body was later discovered.

Collins repeated testimony given Tuesday and Wednesday by defense witnesses Sylvia Gomez and Joe Valle that the parolee was visiting them in Boyle Heights about the time that Rose was killed.

Although his friends asked him to stay for a party later that evening, Collins said he decided to travel to Bakersfield to visit a girlfriend.

His description of the trip north on Interstate 5 meshes with other evidence presented to the jury that shows Collins stopped at a gas station and used one of Rose’s credit cards to purchase gasoline and beer.

Speaking of the woman in Bakersfield, Maria Gutierrez, Collins said they had come to an understanding since his release from prison.

“We had a relationship where we tried to keep each other straight,” he testified. “She was trying to stay away from gangs, and I was trying to stay away from crime.”

Nevertheless, Collins admitted using Rose’s ATM card again the next day in Bakersfield.

When his testimony continues Friday, Collins is expected to detail a night of drinking with young gang members that culminated in a drive-by shooting.

Several of the youths involved in the incident previously testified that Collins was the gunman in the shooting and that he told them both the gun and the car he was driving “had a murder rap.”