Date Set for Drug Trial of Narcotics Agent

A state narcotics agent and three co-defendants accused of drug trafficking entered not-guilty pleas Monday before a federal magistrate in Los Angeles. Their trial was set for Sept. 8.

Richard Wayne Parker, 43, a nine-year veteran of the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, was arrested by FBI agents earlier this month during a sting operation. He is being held without bail on charges of possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

During a bond hearing two weeks ago, Parker’s wife offered to put up her San Juan Capistrano home, her mother’s townhouse and her personal savings to get him released, but she demurred when confronted with evidence that Parker was having an affair with another woman.

Parker’s wife, Diane, a former Orange County sheriff’s deputy, allegedly attacked the woman later that day at the narcotics agency’s office in Orange where the woman worked, according to an assault and battery complaint filed in Municipal Court.

At federal court Monday, the three co-defendants arraigned with Richard Parker were Monica Liliana Pitto, 39, of Manhattan Beach; Christine Loretta Whitney, 26, of Manhattan Beach; and Pamela Susan Gray, 43, of Hermosa Beach. The women are accused of distributing cocaine provided by Parker.

FBI agents say Parker is believed to have been trafficking in drugs since 1991. Authorities said they have recovered more than $620,000 in cash kept by Parker, who worked out of the narcotics bureau’s Riverside office.