Burbank is Scandalous!

I saw a bizarre story on the morning news a few minutes ago and felt compelled to blog it. A City Councilwoman in the suburb of Burbank was arrested for cocaine possession and child endangerment after a gang task force raided her house. Her boyfriend, a "known gang member," ratted her out to the authorities.

I found the story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, not the Los Angeles Times. You know those haters down there are just eating this up.

Link to article here (text follows)

It's interesting that something like this has happened in Burbank, a respectable and somewhat "hum drum" suburb. It would seem more likely to occur in the more "hard scrabble" suburbs with a history of scandals, like Bell Gardens, South Gate, and Compton.

<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>

Burbank councilwoman arrested for alleged cocaine possession

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:39 a.m., July 15, 2005

BURBANK – A city councilwoman arrested for investigation of cocaine possession and child endangerment by members of a task force that recently raided a notorious street gang allegedly kept cocaine in her bedroom closet and knew her boyfriend associated with gang members, according to court papers.

Councilwoman Stacey Jo Murphy, 47, was arrested Wednesday night at her home, where law enforcement agents served a federal search warrant, police said. Police found cocaine, three loaded handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition during a search of her home, they said.

She posted $100,000 bail and was released from jail Thursday. Phone calls left for Murphy at her office and home by The Associated Press were not returned.

Also arrested was Murphy's boyfriend Scott Schaffer, 51, for investigation of federal firearms and narcotic violations. Robert Polloreno, 54, who lives with Schaffer, was arrested for alleged grand theft of a firearm. Schaffer was being held at a federal custody facility and Polloreno was being held on $50,000 bail.

The warrant served at Murphy's home was based on information gathered by a task force that last month arrested 36 people, including 23 members of a San Fernando Valley gang. Police have accused some gang members of participating in the slayings of Los Angeles police Officer James Beyea in 1988 and Burbank Officer Matthew Pavelka in 2003.

Many of those arrested were wanted for trafficking in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

According to an 18-page affidavit, Schaffer agreed to cooperate with authorities after a .45-caliber Sig-Sauer semiautomatic handgun found June 8 at the home of one gang member was traced to him. During an interview with investigators, Schaffer admitted purchasing cocaine from the gang and selling handguns to one member.

Schaffer also told police that Murphy was aware that two of his associates were members of the gang and that he and Murphy had purchased cocaine and used it. He said Murphy had stored cocaine inside the bedroom closet of her home, according to the affidavit.

Those who know Murphy reacted with shock.

"Stacey Murphy has been a friend and a colleague. To the extent we can help her family and her, we'll stand next to her," Burbank Mayor Jef Vander Borght.

Murphy's ex-husband, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner and a former Burbank councilman, said he hoped the arrest was "a terrible mistake."

"A reminder: An arrest is only an arrest. It has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in court," said Timothy Murphy, who divorced Stacey Murphy in the 1990s.

The gang allegedly forged a treaty with the Mexican Mafia prison gang under which it agreed to pay taxes on its drug profits. Its drug trafficking operation allegedly stretched from Hawaii to Indiana.

Authorities have arrested more than 200 of the gang's documented members over the last 18 months, seizing cars, firearms, at least $500,000 in cash and more than 300 pounds of narcotics.

Murphy, who has been on the Burbank City Council since 1997, served as mayor in 1999-2000 and in 2003-04. The mother of three children was re-elected earlier this year to a four-year term.