SCHAFNITZ ADMITS COCAINE USE

NEWPORT BEACH-Tina Schafnitz likes to kick up her heels now and then at one
of her favorite venues: country -Western nightclubs.

It was in this after-hours milieu where the Newport Beach woman said she
first was introduced to cocaine about two years ago through a friend.

"I did a gram once in a while - about every month," Schafnitz said in a
telephone interview Friday. "It would last me when (I) went out for a
while."

But Schafnitz, a married mother of two young boys, said she is off the drug
and her arrest for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover policeman was
a "setup" and "a Sting.

She is not, she said, a cocaine addict or a drug dealer.

"I don't do it (cocaine)," said Schafnitz, 38. "I don't deal it or sell it."

Schafnitz related the events leading up to her arrest March 16 for
allegedly selling 16 grams of cocaine. She was arrested outside El Torito
Mexican restaurant in Tustin.

Her troubles began the night of March 13 at the Crazy Horse Steakhouse &
Saloon in Santa Ana.

Schafnitz said a "male acquaintance named Glenn" approached her at the
nightclub that evening. Schafnitz said she had seen him at the Crazy Horse
on a few occasions.

Glenn asked Schafnitz if she used cocaine, she said, and she told him she
had at times.

"He then said to me, 'Talk about your unlucky days (Friday the 13th). Tina,
can you get me any coke?'"

Schafnitz said she told Glenn that she could arrange for a purchase through
a female friend.

Asked why she believes Glenn approached her about purchasing cocaine,
Schafnitz said: "I have no idea why."

Schafnitz said Glenn requested 16 grams of cocaine for $70 per gram for him
and his brother.

Schafnitz said she contacted her female friend Saturday and that her friend
acquired the cocaine from a third party.

The following Monday, March 16, Schafnitz said she drove to her friend's
Cost Mesa house and the two arrived at an El Torito restaurant in Tustin at
about 4 p.m. to make the transaction.

Schafnitz said Glenn and a man she didn't know got into Schafnitz's
Mercedes outside the restaurant, joining her and her friend.

Schafnitz said she handed over the cocaine to either Glenn or the
unidentified man, and was given $1,120 in cash.

Schfnitz said when she got out of the car to enter the restaurant, where
she and her friend had planned to dine, two undercover policemen swooped
down on her and arrested her.

"I couldn't believe it," Schafnitz said. "My heart dropped."

Schafnitz said she spent a sleepless night in jail in a small concrete cell.

The next morning, her husband, Matt, posted her $25,000 bail and put her
under doctor's treatment.

Asked why she believes she was set up, she said: "I don't know. It really
bothers me."

Asked why she would get involved in an alleged drug deal, Schafnitz said: I
think it was a risk, but I trusted (Glenn). I thought, 'No problem. We'll
meet at a certain place (and make the deal).'"