Daughter of LAPD chief gets court date to face drug charge

The daughter of the Los Angeles Police Department chief of police is going to be back in Las Vegas courtroom on Oct. 13 to face drug trafficking charges, or she is going to be in jail.

Michelle Lynette Parks wasn't in court Tuesday during a brief court hearing to confirm that attorneys Robert Langford and Stan Walton will represent her, but her lawyers said she wasn't required to be.

Still, Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle said a bench warrant would be issued for Parks' arrest if she again is a no-show.

Langford explained that Parks was never fingerprinted and photographed at the Clark County Detention Center after her arrest in June. The 37-year-old woman simply was released by the jail on her own recognizance.

Langford said the jail merely wants to complete the processing of daughter of Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks.

Deputy District Attorney Scott Mitchell said an arrest warrant had been issued for Michelle Parks early this month, and she surrendered to authorities after she learned she was wanted.

Langford said he has been in contact with Michelle Parks but declined to reveal her location because she "has been hounded by the press in L.A."

He added that the woman has been on medical leave from her job as a clerk typist at one of the LAPD divisions, where she has worked for 18 months.

She is accused of conspiring with an un-apprehended accomplice to sell 20 grams of cocaine to an undercover Las Vegas police officer in June. Parks allegedly drove her accomplice to the location of the transaction.

Langford said she "had nothing to do with the crime she is charged with. She was just with someone who was making a transaction."

She was charged in a Sept. 3 warrant with one count of conspiracy to sell cocaine and one count of trafficking. Her alleged partner was identified as Reginald Gathwright, 21.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

LAPD officials have said the defendant's father has declined to comment on the case and that the department is conducting an internal administrative investigation into the case.

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