SANTA ANA – Representing himself in his ongoing capital murder trial, Steven Gordon continued Thursday to use his questioning of parole agents to get what he referred to as payback against those he believes didn’t do a good enough job of supervising himself and fellow sex offender Franc Cano.

Gordon, who has admitted to playing a role in the kidnapping and killing of four prostitutes, argued that had parole agents paid more attention to him and Cano, they could have prevented some of the slayings.

Throughout his trial, Gordon has been most aggressive when questioning law enforcement, particularly parole and probation officials. On Thursday, he saved his most heated questions for state parole supervisor Maryanne Larios, who oversaw the parole office in Anaheim when Gordon and Cano were being monitored by ankle GPS units.

In late 2013, in the midst of the killings, Gordon said he had a heated conversation with Larios about the terms of his parole. The conversation ended, Gordon said, with his threatening payback, a phrase that he argued should have raised further questions.

“Two murders had already been committed before that night and I made that comment to you,” Gordon said as he questioned Larios. “Well, here comes your payback right now.”

Gordon was first on parole for kidnapping his wife and child, then for cutting off his ankle monitor and leaving the state. Because of an earlier conviction for molesting his nephew, Gordon is a lifelong sex offender registrant.

Gordon and Cano, close friends, routinely slept behind an Anaheim automotive business where Gordon worked. Because sex offenders are generally not supposed to hang out together, Gordon said their close relationship should have raised more alarms amongst parole and probation officials.

“Two sex offenders were doing these crimes under your supervision and you didn’t do a damn thing about it,” Gordon told Larios, ending his questioning before she had a chance to respond.

In his questioning of parole agent Felicia Johnson, who supervised both Gordon and Cano until 2011, Gordon alleged she had given the pair permission to sleep in the same area.

Johnson testified the only time she recalled the restrictions on parolees sleeping near each other being lessened was in late 2011, when a serial killer was targeting homeless people in Orange County and transient parolees were advised to pair up for safety.

State parole agent Douglas Radtke, who said he took over supervising Gordon and Cano when Johnson took a medical leave in 2012, testified he regularly checked the GPS data from the two men’s ankle monitors to make sure they weren’t going to areas such as schools or parks, from which they were barred.

Radtke acknowledged he never compared Gordon’s and Cano’s GPS data.

Police investigators later used the GPS tracking information and cell phone data to place Gordon and Cano in to the same location as the four women they allege the men killed: Kianna Jackson, 20; Josephine Vargas, 34; Martha Anaya, 28; and Jarrae Estepp, 21. Only the body of Estepp has been found.

Gordon has placed most of the blame for the killings on Cano, who has pleaded not guilty and is being tried separately. If convicted, both face the death penalty. Gordon‘s trial continues Friday.

Contact the writer: semery@scng.com