DRUG AGENT IS FACING 2 NEW FEDERAL COUNTS

A state drug agent from San Juan Capistrano pleaded not guilty Monday
to two new counts added last month to the drug-trafficking allegations
he was facing already, a federal prosecutor said.

Assistant U.S Attorney Rebecca Lonergan added that a federal judge
decided Monday that Richard Wayne Parker should go on trial starting
March 30.

Parker had been charged with six felony counts stemming from
allegations that he stole cocaine from a state Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement evidence locker in Riverside, then sold it through
intermediaries on the black market.

A grand jury issued two new counts on Dec. 17, said Assistant U.S.
Attorney Rebecca Lonergan. One charges him with filing a false 1997
tax return that failed to include at least $205,333 in illicit drug
profits. The second accused him of money laundering stemming from the
purchase of a new 1998 Chevrolet pickup truck in Orange using $15,000
in drug revenue.