The case stems from a series of events from 1997 involving cocaine trafficking. District Attorney Don Wilson gave a recap to the Standard of the evidence presented in the case.
According to Wilson’s recount of the testimony, a drug officer in the Los Angeles Airport saw a suspicious package. The office investigated the package further with the help of a drug dog, which alerted authorities to the package. The officer then took the package, which contained a kilogram of cocaine, from the shipper and confirmed the address to which it was being delivered. The address was that of a business front in Aragon. The address was actually the address of the house of Delinda Menefee of Aragon.
After confirming the address, the package was mailed to the Aragon Police who made a controlled delivery. The deliveryman took the package to the house. Tammy Parsons was at the house at the time of delivery. The police then raided the house, where the package was still inside, unopened. When the police came, Parsons had left the package inside and walked back outside. She denied knowing what was in the package.
After this incident, the GBI got involved in the case and a person came forward to work undercover. While trying to obtain evidence for another crime, the undercover operative videoed conversations with Parsons. In the video, Parsons said that she had obtained a key to Menefee’s house without Menefee’s knowledge. Parsons said that she had gotten deliveries at that house and retrieved them without Menefee’s knowledge. Parsons bragged on how the scheme shielded her from suspicion or prosecution if a package was discovered. This was proved to be the most damning evidence in the case.
Parsons received a 25-year sentence, the mandatory minimum for trafficking that quantity of cocaine. The case was heard in front of Judge Mike Murphy with Parsons represented by Attorney Jim Berry. The case was prosecuted by Chief Assistant District Attorney David Gafnea.
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