2 Co-Defendants Acquitted in Case Involving Drug Agent

A Los Angeles jury acquitted two co-defendants in the cocaine trafficking trial of a former drug agent Friday and reached verdicts on four of eight charges against him.

The judge sealed the verdicts in the federal case against former state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement officer Richard Wayne Parker of San Juan Capistrano, who is accused of stealing 650 pounds of cocaine.

The judge ordered jurors to return Monday to continue deliberations on the four remaining charges.

The verdicts came one day after jurors, who earlier in the week had to be restrained from fighting with one another, reported they were deadlocked.

U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder nevertheless ordered the jury to return Friday, more than a week after deliberations started.

Parker faces multiple drug counts, as well as money-laundering and tax-evasion charges.

Parker, a narcotics agent for 10 years, is accused of stealing the cocaine from the bureau’s Riverside office in July 1997.’

The jury acquitted Christine Whitney, 27, of Redondo Beach, and Pamela Gray, 44, of Hermosa Beach. Both had been charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and conspiracy.

Prosecutors alleged that Parker stole the cocaine and used Whitney, Gray and a former girlfriend, Monica Pitto, to sell it. Pitto, a recovering cocaine addict, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and testified for the prosecution.

Prosecutors said officers who arrested Parker at his home found $600,000 in some of the eight vehicles he had recently bought. They also said cocaine was found in Parker’s gym bags.

Defense lawyer Richard Hamar said during the trial that only a minuscule amount of cocaine was found. He said the amount could show up in the home of any drug agent who regularly handles narcotics.

Hamar argued that drug informants were trying to frame Parker.