Courtroom Revelation Leads to Violence

Wife learns her once upstanding husband has been leading an alleged double life. She hears of hidden assets, an affair with another woman--decides to take matters, literally, into her own hands. Wife pummels alleged mistress.

No, it is not a new installment of the “Jerry Springer Show,” but the latest twist in a trial taking place in Los Angeles federal court.

Richard Wayne Parker, 43, a nine-year veteran and decorated agent of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, was arrested and charged earlier this month with drug trafficking.

His wife of five years, Diane Parker, was ready to stand by her man during a bail hearing last week, but that was before a federal prosecutor told her in court that her husband had been deceiving her for years.

Her husband had secretly accumulated cash and other assets and kept a mistress at an apartment in Newport Beach, the prosecutor said. Upon hearing that, Parker, 42, a retired Orange County sheriff’s deputy, pointedly removed her wedding ring while staring at the accused.

She had come prepared to put up the couple’s San Juan Capistrano home, her investments and even her mother’s townhouse to secure bail for the father of their two children, but now “I need a drink and a couple of hours to think about it,” she announced in court. “I need to do a little investigating of my own.”

What she ended up doing, according to authorities, is driving down to Orange County that day to confront the alleged mistress.

Parker went to the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement office in Orange around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and struck Laura Valois several times, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Richard Rennie said Monday. The CHP is responsible for policing state buildings.

A witness said that, after the attack, Parker accused Valois of having an affair with her husband for two years, it was reported.

It was unclear how Parker discovered Valois, a civilian employee at the bureau. Her husband’s attorney and the federal prosecutor handling the drug trafficking case did not return requests for information.

Reached at her office on Monday, Valois said, “I have no comment at this time.”

Parker was not at the scene when officers arrived, and an arrest warrant was issued Thursday, authorities said. But the warrant was recalled when Parker turned herself in Friday.

Parker has been charged with one count of assault and one count of battery and is scheduled to appear in Central Orange County Municipal Court on Aug. 12.