Deputy Jailed in Alleged Scheme

A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kill two witnesses in a murder case against a convicted felon, a man she met inside the county jail -- when he was an inmate and she was a guard, authorities said Wednesday.

Angela Carol Parks, 32, assisted George Anthony Hernandez Jr., 28, while he was being held at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside in an alleged slaying, Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Hughes said.

Sheriff Bob Doyle said he was disturbed to learn that Parks was maintaining contact with Hernandez, whom Doyle described as a “maximum, maximum-security” inmate who was kept behind bars except for one hour of recreational time each day since he arrived at the jail in October 2004.

Between March 14 and 16, Hernandez allegedly gave Parks instructions on how to find two potential witnesses who could implicate him in the slaying, a law enforcement source said. Parks allegedly removed the instructions from the jail, where she had worked as a deputy almost three years, and took them to an unidentified location, according to the criminal complaint.

“George Hernandez was the inmate with whom Parks conspired to commit murder.... Additional arrests are a possibility,” Hughes said.

Hughes declined to discuss who received the alleged instructions.

Hughes said Parks and Hernandez had “inappropriate contact” at the jail this year, but Doyle said there was “no indication of sex, and I have no knowledge of any physical contact.”

Parks resigned from the Sheriff’s Department after she was arrested by Riverside police last week. She is jailed in San Bernardino County on $1-million bail and is expected to be charged with conspiracy to commit solicitation of murder and accessory to solicitation of murder.

On Wednesday, three deputies escorted Parks into Riverside County Superior Court for her arraignment, which was postponed until Monday. Parks told Judge Gordon R. Burkhart she was trying to retain an attorney and have her bail reduced.

Law enforcement sources said Parks met Hernandez while she was a rookie deputy patrolling the jail in 2002 and had regular contact with him while he was serving time for a July 2002 robbery. On Oct. 15, 2003, Hernandez was sentenced to 510 days in state prison after pleading guilty to robbery and felony criminal street gang activity. He was paroled from the California State Prison in Sacramento on April 21, 2004.

In October, Hernandez was arrested and charged in a July 27 slaying in Riverside County. Details of that case were not available Wednesday.