cannabisnews.com: Former Drug Agent Sentenced To Life





Former Drug Agent Sentenced To Life
Posted by FoM on January 19, 2000 at 21:18:26 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: New York Times
A former state anti-narcotics agent convicted of running a multi-state drug distribution network was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday and fined $16 million. Lawyers for Richard Wayne Parker, 44, told U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder that their client does not have the money to pay the fine and will appeal his conviction. 
The former California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement officer was convicted of stealing 650 pounds of cocaine from an evidence locker in 1997 and selling it in a cocaine operation that stretched from Honolulu to Detroit. Parker was convicted in a second trial after his first jury deadlocked. His lawyer, Richard Hamar, said after the sentencing that he would argue to an appeals court that Parker was placed in double jeopardy because the first jury was not ordered to continue its deliberations further before a mistrial was declared. Parker's sentence was mandated under federal law, as was the extraordinarily large fine -- $4 million on each of four counts. After Parker was convicted, authorities arrested his half-brother, former California Highway Patrol officer George Michael Ruelas, and Parker's former partner, Michael Wilcox, on charges of participating in the drug ring. Both were charged and their cases are pending. LOS ANGELES (AP) Published: January 19, 2000Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company Cannabis News Articles On Police Related Topics:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/police.shtml
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