Crooked Agents are Everywhere
Prohibition breeds corruption, just like it did when we tried to outlaw alcohol, just like it's always done. When you prohibit pie, if pie is what people want, people will pay dearly for a slice. Prohibition makes the desired substance harder to get; it raises the stakes until the substance becomes more valuable than gold, and that kind of money draws mafia, kingpins, cartels, as well as cops and robbers. The desire draws the user, but the money draws the mafia, kingpins, cartels, and corrupt cops.
When you're talking prohibition money, lots of people are going to want to get their hand in the pie, just like Richard Wayne Parker did.
How many agencies have to be busted before you realize this is happening all over the nation? You tell me who is the real criminal: The man who plants and harvests the seeds, the man who smokes the plant, or the crooked cop who betrays public trust? And these crooks get paid to bust the common citizen for the less dishonest crime of breaking the prohibition.
Or maybe the Biggest Crook Of All award goes to the legislators who encourage prohibition knowing the historical harms of this repeatedly failed unconstitutional policy.
This agent will more than likely get a slap on the wrist, but you won't hear much about it. Kay Lee
Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jun 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: Linda Deutsch, AP Special Correspondent
AGENT ACCUSED OF STEALING COCAINE
LOS ANGELES - A drug agent stole 650 pounds of cocaine from the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement's Riverside office in 1997, making it look like a forced burglary, a prosecutor said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lonergan presented a methodical overview of evidence she said made it obvious that Richard Wayne Parker was a dirty cop who stole the cocaine on July 4, 1997.
When Parker was arrested at his San Juan Capistrano home, authorities found $600,000 in cash in some of the eight vehicles he had recently purchased, the prosecutor said Tuesday in closing arguments.
"You have his spending which is way above his legitimate income," she told jurors. "You have cocaine found in his gym bags. You have a whole series of items found in his house that had cocaine on them."
Parker, 44, had been with the bureau for 10 years when he was arrested last year. In addition to drug charges, he is accused of money laundering and tax evasion.
Prosecutors contend he stole the cocaine and used a former girlfriend, Monica Pitto, and two co-defendants to sell it.
Defense lawyer Richard Hamar said only tiny amounts of cocaine were found in Parker's home, amounts that could be found in the home of any drug agent who regularly handled narcotics.
Parker had a weakness for women and spent money on them but never became a drug dealer, Hamar said. He said Parker's payments for such things as a stripper's $1,000-a-month apartment don't make him a criminal.
"There is a neon sign blaring at you, 'Not guilty,"' he said.
Ms. Pitto pleaded guilty to conspiracy and testified for the prosecution that Parker sold her cocaine that she sold to others.
Parker testified during the six-week trial that Ms. Pitto, a former banker, asked him to store large amounts of cash for her, assuring him the money came from legitimate business transactions.
