People v. Valdes

SHINN, P. J.

Roger S. Valdes was accused of an offense of grand theft and two offenses of forgery. The transaction involved in the charge of grand theft concerned the sale of a residence by Valdes to one Giron in which Valdes was accused of the theft of $900; the second concerned the endorsement of the name of Delia P. Miranda upon a cheek payable to her, and the third count accused Valdes of forging the name of Ralph V. Garcia by endorsement upon a cheek for $150 payable to Garcia. In a nonjury trial Valdes was acquitted upon Counts I and II and convicted on Count III of forging the name of Garcia. He was sentenced, execution of sentence was suspended, he was fined $500, placed on probation and he appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The evidence relating to the Garcia transaction was the following: In the eastern part of Los Angeles, on First Street, was a storeroom in which were four private offices. Valdes used one of these and a man named Salot used another. This was the headquarters of the Owl Mortgage Company which was a fictitious name, and nothing more. Salot was a realtor who traded in real estate and loaned money. Valdes had been a broker but had “inactivated” his license. He accepted applications for loans made to Owl Mortgage, prepared papers, traded in real estate, acted as escrow holder and handled the detail work. There seems to be no definite ownership of the Owl Mortgage Company, although Valdes and Salot made use of the name; when an application for a loan was received it went to Salot, and if he approved it he

[615]

made the loan and received the security. A man named Macias, who ran a television store, brought Garcia to Valdes seeking a loan of $150 with which Garcia intended to buy a television set. Garcia offered to give a second trust deed upon his half interest in property as security. Salot approved the loan, Garcia executed a note and trust deed in favor of Salot for the amount of $260, a title search was made and the trust deed was recorded. The difference between the amount of the loan and the amount of the note represented vaguely described expenses. Salot issued his cheek for $150 payable to Garcia and gave it to Valdes, who signed the name of Garcia and his own name as endorsers, and cashed the cheek. This act was the basis of the charge of forgery.