DOUBLE LIFE STUNS MURPHY'S FRIENDS.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

BURBANK - Friends and acquaintances expressed shock and disbelief Friday at allegations that City Councilwoman Stacey Jo Murphy led a double life - do-gooder civic leader and cocaine abuser who hung out at a bar with known gangsters.

Murphy's arrest after police found drugs and guns at her Lima Street home grew out of a lengthy investigation into the notorious Vineland Boys street gang, which authorities blame for a long list of crimes, including the killing of Burbank police Officer Matthew Pavelka.

Across Burbank, those who know Murphy, 47, were having trouble making the allegations jibe with their image of a successful manager of a Sun Valley taxi company and mother of three who lives in a white-and-blue stucco home on a street of manicured lawns, rose gardens and American flags hung on porches.

``I don't believe everything I'm hearing and reading,'' said Gary Bric, the owner of Gary Bric's Ramp, a popular Burbank steakhouse that contributed $250 to Murphy's successful re-election campaign earlier this year. ``I don't believe she knew the guns were sold to gangs.''

Burbank City Manager Mary Alvord remembers working with Murphy on park and recreation projects, saying she respected her leadership and commitment to public service.

``It's difficult,'' Alvord said. ``It's tough for everybody. It's very emotional. We're taking it one day at a time.''

Police said this popular city official and ``soccer mom'' frequented a North Hollywood bar - a hangout for the Vineland Boys - and bought cocaine there with her boyfriend, who traded guns the gangsters couldn't legally buy themselves.

Bikeway advocate

As a councilwoman, Murphy pushed for lights at a soccer field at Providencia Elementary School and was an advocate for the Chandler Avenue bikeway. When Pavelka died in November 2003 in a shootout with suspected Vineland Boys members, she attended fundraisers and offered support to his family.

``Stacey, she's a very sweet lady,'' said Jeries T. Qonsul, the operations manager for City Cab, where she works. ``She got the highest vote in Burbank. I hope she's not involved. I hope it's a joke.''

But police say they found guns and 900 rounds of ammunition in her garage, as well as cocaine in her bedroom.

``There's nothing to debate on that,'' Burbank police Sgt. Jay Jette said. ``It's there or it's not there.''

At home Friday, Murphy came to her door when a reporter knocked but declined to comment. Murphy's Pasadena attorney, Rick Santwier, did not return a call seeking comment.

Murphy is free on $100,000 bail after being arrested on suspicion of drug possession and child endangerment, on the grounds that loaded guns in her garage were accessible to her 12-year-old son, police said.

Prosecutors have not filed criminal charges, but police said they expect her first court appearance will be Aug. 25.

Her boyfriend, Scott C. Schaffer, 51, remains in custody on charges of federal firearms violations, including possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Schaffer does not have a license to sell or purchase firearms, according to court documents and an affidavit to support the search warrant served at Murphy's home.

A councilwoman since 1997, Murphy graduated from Hollywood High School in 1975. In 1982, she married Timothy Murphy, with whom she had three sons, now ages 12 to 21.

Starting in 1984, she ran a typing or transcription service out of their home, and in 1989 she managed her husband's successful Burbank City Council campaign. In 1995, she was named to the Burbank parks and recreation board, and in 1997, she won a seat on the City Council.

The couple separated after her election. Timothy Murphy, now a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner, said in court papers that within weeks of his wife taking her council seat, she asked him to move out because ``she needed some space.'' They divorced the next year.

By 2001, she was living with Schaffer, who was co-owner of Sun Valley-based City Cab, where she was working.

Link to gang

Investigators targeting the Vineland Boys said they were led to Schaffer after the arrest last month of a gang member at a Granada Hills home, where they found a loaded .45-caliber Sig-Sauer semiautomatic handgun in a bedroom dresser.

The gun was registered to Schaffer, the search warrant affidavit said.

More than a year earlier, the affidavit said, a Vineland Boys member had alleged that Schaffer exchanged guns for cocaine in the parking lot of a North Hollywood bar. One gang member to whom Schaffer allegedly sold a gun is accused of murdering a fellow gang member in an internal power struggle, the affidavit said.

``Schaffer was furthering the racketeering activities of the (Vineland Boys) by supplying them with firearms,'' Los Angeles police Detective David Torres wrote in his affidavit.

When Vineland Boys task force investigators searched his Glendale home Wednesday night, the affidavit said, Schaffer admitted to buying cocaine from two Vineland Boys members and to selling two guns to one of them. The affidavit said Schaffer admitted knowing the man was an ex-convict barred by law from owning a handgun.

What's more, Schaffer told the investigators that he stored more guns at Murphy's home, where he lived most of the time, and that she kept cocaine in the bedroom closet.

He also said he and Murphy went to the bar to buy cocaine, and that they had used some of it, the affidavit said. Schaffer said Murphy knew that at least two of the men he was dealing with were members of the Vineland Boys, the affidavit said.

Alvord, the Burbank city manager, said Murphy remains a councilwoman pending the outcome of the investigation. According to the City Charter, she would be forced off the council if she were to be convicted of a felony.

``We're proceeding with business as usual,'' Alvord said. ``Even though it's not quite business as usual.''

Staff Writer Troy Anderson contributed to this report.

Jason Kandel, [phone]

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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