People v. Curran

WOOD, J.

In an information defendant was charged with the crime of grand theft, in that he wilfully and feloniously took $500, the personal property of Arthur Reshman. A jury returned a verdict of guilty and the defendant appeals from the judgment and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

According to evidence presented by the prosecution, defendant and one Whiting entered into a partnership under the name “Ideal Investment Company” on June 8, 1936, for the purpose of selling real estate and “business opportunities”. They rented a vacant store at 1731 West Seventh Street, Los Angeles. Defendant furnished the business experience and Whiting the capital. Office furniture was installed on a lease contract by which most of the purchase price was to be paid at a future date. A stenographer was employed on a commission basis, her compensation to be ten per cent on all of the sales that should be consummated. During the next two months only two transactions were consummated, on one of which the commission was $50 and on the other the commission was $15. Whiting then withdrew from the partnership.

Upon the withdrawal of Whiting defendant inserted an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper under the head “Business Opportunities”, by which a partner was sought. In answer to this advertisement Reshman went to the office of “Ideal Investment Company” and there defendant stated to him that he had sales rights for oil leases he expected to put upon the market and that he needed someone to look after the business in the office while he was absent; that the various types of businesses he sold were gas stations, restaurants, rooming houses, and “any little business that was offered for sale ’ ’; that the business had been in operation about two months and had cleared about $1200; that the secretary had made about $120 on a commission basis of ten per cent. Defendant showed Reshman a page from a loose-leaf book and stated that the sale there represented was recent and had brought in between $50 and $75. All of these statements were false. Reshman showed his bank boob to defendant, who offered him a partnership for the sum of

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$500. Reshman later agreed to purchase an interest in the business and the two went to a bank where defendant insisted that the $500 be in cash. Reshman objected to carrying $500 in cash through the downtown district and defendant expressed his willingness to carry it, but Reshman replied that the money would not be turned over until the papers were signed and they had become partners. Reshman suggested that a certified check be obtained from the bank. This was done and the parties went to a lawyer’s office where a partnership agreement was drawn and signed and the certified check was delivered by Reshman to defendant. At the office of the company Reshman was assigned a desk in the front part of the office, but there was no business other than one transaction which netted a commission of $35 or $50, of which Reshman received $16.25. In about a month the furniture company removed the furniture. The next day defendant suggested to Reshman that they burn up their written agreement, since the partnership had ended with the return of the furniture. At the time Reshman purchased the interest in the business defendant did not inform him that he had previously had a partner.