Charges filed against Murphy

Burbank City Councilwoman Stacey Murphy will be arraigned Thursday in

Pasadena Superior Court after being charged Tuesday with one count of

possessing a controlled substance and one misdemeanor count of child

endangerment.

Murphy, 47, is free on $100,000 bail after being arrested July 13,

after police found cocaine, three handguns and 900 rounds of

ammunition in her home on Lima Street in Burbank, where the mother of

three lives with her 12-year-old son. The handguns were registered to

her boyfriend, Glendale resident Scott Schaffer, who is in federal

custody awaiting an Aug. 30 trial.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Krag filed the case Tuesday, said

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s

Office.

“When we reviewed the case and the evidence, these were the

charges that we felt were warranted,” Robison said.

Krag did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

If convicted, Murphy faces three years in state prison and will

have to resign from her seat on the Burbank City Council. Murphy has

served on the Burbank City Council since May 1997 and has served as

mayor twice. She was reelected to the council in February with 60% of

the vote in the primary election.

Murphy’s arrest was part of an investigation into the Vineland

Boyz street gang. A member of the gang, David Garcia, is facing

murder charges in the November 2003 shooting death of Burbank Police

Officer Matthew Pavelka.

The investigation led police to Schaffer after a Vineland Boyz

gang member was found in possession of a handgun registered to

Schaffer, which had not been reported stolen. Schaffer is suspected

of trading handguns to members of the Vineland Boyz street gang in

exchange for cocaine.

Murphy and her attorney, Rickard Santwier, did not return calls

for comment Tuesday.

In a statement released July 19, Murphy apologized for the

distraction her arrest caused the City Council and pledged to serve

out the remainder of her term, but said she would not attend City

Council meetings until she had appeared in court.