Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jul 1998
Author: Stuart Pfeifer and Jeff Collins

AGENT'S WIFE ATTACKS HIS ALLEGED MISTRESS

A federal prosecutor had told the indicted narcotics agent's spouse of the
affair.

The wife of a state narcotics agent charged in a drug-dealing scheme has
been accused of assaulting his alleged mistress, authorities said Friday.

Diane Parker, 42 a retired Orange County sheriff's deputy, had learned of
the alleged affair in court Wednesday when a prosecutor derailed her plans
to post his bail by telling her about the other woman.

Her husband, Richard Wayne Parker of San Juan Capistrano, a nine-year
veteran of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, was arrested July 2
on cocaine trafficking charges.

Authorities said Diane Parker attacked his alleged mistress Wednesday, a
few hours after she had announced plans to pledge her home, her retirement
account and her mother's Connecticut condominium as bail collateral.

A federal prosecutor then told Diane Parker her husband had been having an
affair for the past year and paying for the other woman's $1,000-a-month
Newport Beach apartment.

Diane Parker slipped off her wedding ring and said, "I need a drink and a
couple of hours to think about" supporting him. Bail was not granted.

Authorities said Parker walked into the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement
office in Orange around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and struck civilian employee
Laura Valois several times.

A witness said Parker then explained that Valois had been having sex with
her husband for two years, court records show.

Parker was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery and was ordered to
appear in Central Orange County Municipal Court on Aug.12.

Central Orange County Municipal Judge Steven Perk released Diane Parker on
her own recognizance, but ordered her to stay away from Valois and not to
carry a gun outside her home.

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Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)