Pubdate: 7-7-98 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Author:Mai Tran and Tony Saavedra POLICE SAY AGENT WAS PART OF PLOT Law Enforcement: Police say the state narcotics agent from San Jaun Capistrano was part of a plot to distribute cocaine. A state narcotics officer from San Jaun Capistrano was charged Monday in an alleged plot to distribute cocaine after an undercover sting operation netted 26 pounds of cocaine and $285,000, officials said. Richard W. Parker, 43, a Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agent, was arrested after meeting with a woman on the roof of a Pasadena parking garage, allegedly to collect $47,000 for cocaine buys over the past few weeks. Police searched Parker's truck and seized about $100,000, numerous firearms, money orders and credit card receipts of "large" transactions, and a business card for a bank in the Cayman Islands, an FBI affidavit states. After his arrest on Thursday, Parker denied any knowledge of drugs and told police he met the woman as "a favor for a friend," according to the affidavit. At the time of his arrest, Parker was employed at the same Riverside facility where 900 pounds of cocaine evidence in criminal cases was reported stolen on July 4, 1997, said Mike Van Winkle, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement spokesman. The Riverside Police Department has been investigating the missing drugs for a year. It was not immediately known if Parker worked there at the same time the drugs disappeared or if any of the drugs he allegedly supplied were confiscated from busts, officials said. Also arrested in the alleged conspiracy were Gerhard Ewald Hensel of Redondo Beach; Monica Lillian Pitto, 39, of Manhattan Beach; Pamela Susan Gray, 43, of Hermosa Beach; and Christine Whitney, 26, of Manhattan Beach. Parker and the others were booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. The FBI affidavit states that Parker had been supplying cocaine to Pitto since 1991. Investigators said she told them that she obtained about 140 kilograms of cocaine from Parker within the past seven years and sold them to Hensel. She and Parker allegedly split the profits. - --- Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"