Judge on Leave Apparently Is Enrolled in Medical School

Even as he continues to collect his $117,000-a-year salary while on sick leave, Citrus Court Judge Patrick B. Murphy has apparently enrolled as a first-year student in a Caribbean medical school, records and interviews show.

Murphy took leave from his West Covina courtroom in late 1998 after allegations surfaced linking him to an alleged $1.8-million fraud. The scheme--in which Murphy is alleged to have helped a wealthy friend conceal money from creditors--is the subject of a civil lawsuit, a federal grand jury investigation and a probe by the district attorney’s office.

Through his attorney, Murphy has denied any wrongdoing and says he was falsely implicated by others trying to save their own skins.

“Not one penny of this money went into Pat Murphy’s hands,” said attorney Thomas Dovidio.

Still, Murphy’s whereabouts have been a point of intense speculation, especially in the last few months as the fraud investigations have intensified.

Local court officials have been thrown into a tizzy over whether he took a valid oath to become a Superior Court judge.

“He has essentially abandoned his job,” said one fellow judge. Murphy took sick leave from the bench in late 1998, about the time that allegations of fraud surfaced, and has worked about 2 1/2 months since--from July through early September 1999, court officials say. The state Judicial Council appointed a retired judge at about $400 a day to take over Murphy’s caseload, said Citrus Judge Rolf M. Treu.

Meanwhile, records show that the 44-year-old Murphy apparently has enrolled as a student in the Ross University Medical School, located in Dominica, a tiny West Indies island. With its tropical blue waters and its rugged landscape of peaks and valleys, Dominica is known as the Switzerland of the Caribbean.

In telephone interviews with The Times last week, the school’s registrar staff confirmed that a Patrick Murphy--with the same birth date, Covina home address, ZIP Code, spouse name, law degree and telephone number as the judge--was enrolled in classes that started last month.

The judge didn’t return messages left for him at the school, with his attorney or with a woman who answered the telephone at his residence. Asked if his client has become a Caribbean medical student, Dovidio declined to comment.

Dovidio said that Murphy may be exploring other career options because of “health-related problems.”

“The judge’s doctors don’t want him to return to the bench,” he said.

Los Angeles County court officials said they were unaware of indications that Murphy has apparently enrolled in the foreign medical program, though they confirmed that he continues to get paid as a judge.

“At this point, we’re not in a position to say where he is,” said Jerrianne Hayslett, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Murphy’s continuing absence has been referred by court officials to the Commission on Judicial Performance, which has the power to remove judges from office. Officials from the commission would not comment except to say that Murphy has not filed for permanent disability status.

Murphy’s absence created a minor emergency for court officials last week when they realized the oath they administered to him over the telephone Jan. 31 was invalid. Presiding Judge Victor Chavez notified Dovidio on Tuesday that Murphy had to appear in person to be sworn in, Hayslett said.

On Wednesday, Murphy showed up at the Citrus courthouse after 5 p.m. and was sworn in by a clerk, Hayslett added.

Dovidio said Wednesday that he didn’t know the exact whereabouts of his client, though the last word he had was that Murphy was “in the country.” On Thursday, Dovidio filed court papers asking to be excused as Murphy’s attorney because he hasn’t seen his client since December.

The lawsuit, filed in November by Smith Barney Inc. and Prudential Securities Inc., accuses Murphy of helping a wealthy physician friend, George Taus, in connection with “wrongfully withdrawing, laundering, concealing and misappropriating” more than $1.8 million owed to Taus’ creditors and former wife.

The suit alleges that in 1996, two years after Susan Taus filed for divorce, Taus withdrew $1.2 million from a joint account without her knowledge. He also withdrew about $680,000 from other family accounts, including their children’s trusts.

The money was invested in a paper company called Copex International, which in turn paid it out as part of a sexual harassment settlement to a ghost employee, the suit alleges. As it happened, the employee was an Irwindale paralegal who worked with Murphy when he was a private attorney prior to his 1992 election, the suit says.

In a deposition filed in the case, the paralegal, Maryanne Baumgarten, testified that she moved the money around at Murphy’s direction. She said she converted some of it into gold coins and passed most of it through numerous bank accounts.

Baumgarten has testified that she, Murphy and another man drove to Las Vegas to deposit some of the money at two casinos: the MGM Grand and Tropicana. The plan was foiled, however, when casino officials refused to cash one of the trio’s $100,000 checks.

Baumgarten declined to comment. But in her deposition, she said she went to the FBI in 1998 when she became suspicious about the source of the money. She said she thought it was Murphy’s all along, and knew nothing about Taus or the supposed harassment claim.

In all, the lawsuit alleges that Murphy eventually received $330,000 in cash, property and gold coins. Checks and other financial records submitted in the case indicate that nearly $14,000 of the money paid for a new roof on Murphy’s residence and $1,500 for repairs to his cars.

Dovidio said the roof payments were made by Baumgarten because she owed Murphy’s wife the money from a prior loan.

Papers filed in the case also reveal that the alleged fraud is being investigated by the federal grand jury.

Last month, Taus’ attorneys filed a motion asserting the physician’s 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, noting that the grand jury had subpoenaed one defendant in the civil suit to testify and will “possibly be issuing criminal indictments to many, if not all, the named defendants in this lawsuit.”

“This case is no longer just a civil case; it is now a case that can and will be used as a blueprint for criminal prosecution,” the motion says.

Taus’ attorney, Richard F. Seone, said his client has done nothing wrong and was victimized by unscrupulous associates who took advantage of the physician while he was clinically depressed.

A financial settlement in the federal civil suit fell apart late last month after the trustee in Taus’ bankruptcy case objected to its terms. A second settlement proposal stumbled about the same time because the U.S. attorney’s office refused to promise that Murphy would not be prosecuted, said several other attorneys, who asked not to be named.

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

The civil lawsuit is now slated to go to trial in April, but just who will represent Murphy remains unknown. Dovidio has asked to be released from the case.

Last September, Murphy sued a co-defendant and a Newport Beach attorney for $3.5 million, claiming they were responsible for falsely implicating him in the Smith Barney lawsuit.