PROBE OF AGENT MISSED BY STATE

A narcotics officer accused of dealing drugs was investigated for
wrongdoing at his previous job.

Sacramento-The state's drug enforcement agency failed to uncover a red flag
in the background on an Orange County man who now stands accused of dealing
cocaine during most of his tenure as a California narcotics agent.

Richard Wayne Parker of San Juan Capistrano was investigated by his former
employer, the Tucson Police Department, in 1985 for an alleged misuse of
funds. The California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement acknowledged that it
now knows about the investigation. Had it known in 1988, its top official
said Wednesday, the agency likely would not have hired Parker.

It is unclear how the investigation concluded. But Parker's lawyer said his
client was not disciplined or charged in the matter and continued to work
in Tucson until being hired by the California agency in 1988.

Still, the state drug agency's missing the incident in Parker's past raises
questions about how it conducts background checks.

Agency Chief Joe Doane said that in 1988 the bureau was unaware of the
Tucson investigation and failed to turn it up in its background check
before Parker was hired.

Doane said the agency did not require a polygraph exam and did not travel
to Arizona to interview officials, co-workers and neighbors - methods
routinely used by other law enforcement agencies in California at the time.

If these procedures were conducted - which are now standard parts of a
background check at the agency - Doane said it is likely the agency would
have learned more about Parker and would not have hired him.

Instead, a limited background check was done over the telephone.

"I'm very upset now learning that information existed and it wasn't given
to us," Doane said in an interview Wednesday. "Had we known about that, our
normal course of action would have been to terminate his background check.
We wouldn't have moved a step further."

Instead, Parker was hired by the bureau in January 1988 and assigned to the
Orange County office. Two years later, federal authorities allege in an
indictment, Parker began dealing cocaine. He has pleaded not guilty.

Parker's attorney, Everett Bobbitt, said his client also is aware he is a
suspect in the disappearance of 650 pounds of cocaine valued at $3.2
million from a Riverside narcotics evidence room where he was stationed
after leaving Orange County. The drug heist, which remains unsolved, is the
largest theft of narcotics ever from the state agency.

Doane said he believes the Tucson force misled the bureau about Parker and
withheld information to "punt" a problem employee to another agency.

Tucson police Lt. Tom McNally said he was unaware of what communication, if
any, state drug agency investigators had with Tucson police before hiring
Parker. Still, he said, he does not believe Tucson officers would have
misled California officials. Parker worked in Arizona for 10 years.

"It's certainly not our intent to dump any problem employees on another
agency. That wouldn't be acceptable," McNally said. "We would go out of our
way to inform another authority of a problem employee."

Since Parker's hiring, the state agency has strengthened its background
checks. It now requires polygraph exams and sends investigators out of
state to interview a job candidate's co-workers, neighbors and supervisors.

Doane said attorneys at the Department of Justice, which oversees the drug
agency, wouldn't allow polygraphs in the late 1980s and that budget
constraints limited travel.

Even Parker's attorney Bobbitt said he was surprised that the state didn't
do a more thorough background check of Parker.

"You usually hear about Podunk departments that don't have the resources to
do these checks," said Bobbitt. "Obviously, they're not as sophisticated as
you'd think. It's a no-brainer for an agency to do that before hiring
anyone."

Parker, who is being held without bail in a downtown Los Angeles jail cell,
was paid about $6,000 in salary while he was behind bars until he was
terminated Aug. 18 for failing to show up for work, Doane said.

Parker's efforts to get bail were denied last week. He was arrested July 3
on charges of conspiracy to possess and sell cocaine, which he was able to
obtain "one a regular basis" starting in 1991, according to an eight-page
federal indictment. When he was arrested, FBI agents seized $599,000 in
cash stashed at his San Juan Capistrano home and from his 1968 Chevrolet
Camaro and a Ford truck, the indictment states.

His trial date has been set for Nov. 17.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson