Former CHP Officer Held in Drug Theft

Federal investigators long suspected that state drug agent Richard Wayne Parker had help when he stole 650 pounds of cocaine from an evidence locker at the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement office in Riverside.

And Tuesday, more than two years after the crime was committed, authorities announced the arrest of an alleged accomplice--Parker’s half brother, George Michael Ruelas, who was a California Highway Patrol officer until his dismissal last week.

Ruelas, 40, was taken into custody Sunday night in Fresno on federal drug charges related to the evidence locker theft, the largest ever from a California law enforcement agency.

Also implicated--but granted limited immunity from prosecution--was Ruelas’ former CHP patrol partner, Michael Wilcox, 40.

Wilcox has been cooperating with investigators since his indictment last month on federal money-laundering charges. His detailed account of how he, Parker and Ruelas allegedly plotted the July 4, 1997, cocaine theft is contained in a government affidavit filed Tuesday.

According to the document, Wilcox said Parker came up with the scheme six to nine months before Wilcox and Ruelas carried it out using a detailed floor plan provided by Parker, along with keys and the alarm code needed to enter the building and evidence locker.

Wilcox said the trio pooled $300 and purchased a hydraulic door opener, walkie-talkies and alligator clips--the latter to be left dangling from interior alarm wiring to give the impression that ordinary burglars committed the crime.

Since Parker was assigned to the Riverside office and might be questioned later, he did not participate in the actual theft, Wilcox told agents.

Instead, Parker, the married father of two boys, spent the holiday with a paramour to establish an alibi if needed, Wilcox said.

On the afternoon of July 4, Wilcox said, he dropped Ruelas off at the narcotics agency office, which was unstaffed over the long holiday weekend. Wilcox then waited at a nearby spot so he could see anyone approaching the building, which is in an industrial park, he said.

When Ruelas signaled that he was finished, the affidavit said, Wilcox drove to the rear of the building and helped haul out two large black duffel bags filled with cocaine. Dressed in black jumpsuits, the two took the bags to a hotel room, waited an hour and then returned to pick up more cocaine, he said.

After cleaning out the place, they drove to Fresno, where they stashed the drugs in a friend’s garage, Wilcox said.

Ruelas periodically telephoned Fresno with orders for specific amounts of cocaine that Parker needed to sell, Wilcox added. Ruelas would also drive up from his home in Temecula to pick up cocaine or to take Wilcox his share of a three-way split of the proceeds, according to the affidavit.

Wilcox estimated that he should have received $800,000 to $1 million for the amount of cocaine that was sold. But he got just $550,000, a reduced amount that he said Parker blamed on the marginal quality of some of the drug.

On Nov. 24, after his indictment on the money-laundering charges, Wilcox agreed to cooperate with authorities and arranged a meeting with Ruelas that was secretly recorded by agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and the state drug bureau.

During that meeting, Ruelas insisted that the drug proceeds had been split evenly among the three men and admitted having buried some of the cocaine after Parker’s arrest July 2, 1998, the affidavit said.

Ruelas was also quoted as saying he did not expect to live long and wanted to “go out” in a blaze. At a follow-up meeting Dec. 1, he allegedly told Wilcox that he hadn’t ruled out a “jail break” to free his half brother.

Parker, 44, faces a prison term of 10 years to life when he is sentenced Jan. 19 for his conviction on conspiracy and drug distribution charges stemming from the Riverside theft.

Ruelas has faithfully attended Parker’s two trials--the first of which ended with the jury deadlocked on the most serious drug charges. Ruelas also attended many pretrial hearings.

Parker’s lawyers described the two men as extremely close. At a bail hearing shortly after Parker’s arrest, a defense lawyer suggested that he be released into Ruelas’ custody, citing his half brother’s credibility as a law enforcement officer as well as a close family member.

Before the judge could respond, however, a federal prosecutor rose to object, offering to summon an FBI agent who would testify that Ruelas was once present during an illegal drug deal, according to a confidential informant.

The agent was never called, because the judge ruled that Parker was a flight risk and a danger to the community, denying his release on bond.

According to the affidavit, Ruelas and Wilcox were classmates at the CHP academy and became partners while working the graveyard shift at the patrol’s South Los Angeles station in 1985 and 1986.

The two men also had similar tattoos, authorities said. Each had etched on his arm deguello, which means “no quarter asked, no quarter given,” according to the affidavit.

Sources said Ruelas was dismissed by the CHP last week. It was not clear when Wilcox left the agency or under what circumstances. A CHP spokeswoman said she was barred from disclosing any information about former employees.

Besides the embarrassment of losing 650 pounds of cocaine from its own evidence locker, the state drug bureau was unsuccessful in solving the crime until the FBI arrested Parker in an unrelated drug investigation.

In that case the agents tailed drug dealer Monica Pitto from her Manhattan Beach home to a Pasadena parking structure, where she turned over a package containing $47,000 to a man in a green pickup. The man was later identified as Parker.

A search of Parker’s home, garage and cars turned up a total of $599,000 in cash. Pitto, who was once married to Wilcox, confessed and testified that she was peddling drugs for Parker.

With Parker’s arrest, the FBI took over the investigation into the narcotics bureau theft.

Based on ledgers found in Parker’s possession when he was arrested, authorities said, investigators concluded that he and two others were receiving equal portions of the narcotics proceeds and that the drugs were obtained at no cost.

Although it would appear that no others were involved in masterminding or carrying out the theft, U.S. Atty. Alejandro N. Mayorkas said Tuesday that federal authorities “are committed to follow the evidence until anyone and everyone who participated in Richard Wayne Parker’s crimes is brought to justice.”