People v. DiMichele

FOX, J.

Defendant was charged in two informations with nine counts of forgery of fictitious name, a violation of section 470, Penal Code, by fraudulently and feloniously uttering certain fictitious checks with intent to defraud certain named persons.

In the third information defendant, together with one Mary Amezcua, was charged with five additional such counts. In each information defendant was charged with a prior conviction of grand theft, a felony. This charge was made with respect to each of the several counts. Defendant admitted the prior conviction. The three informations were consolidated for trial. The jury found defendant guilty as charged on all counts. He was sentenced to the state prison, sentences in two of the cases to run concurrently with each other and consecutively with the sentence in the other case. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction in all three cases.

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In March, 1954, defendant requested Mrs. Mary Amezcua to cash checks under a fictitious name. At his suggestion, Mrs. Amezcua obtained a nurse’s registration card under the name of Prances Varga; he assisted her in obtaining the card by driving her to a certain address on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles. Mrs. Amezcua was not a nurse. She never used the name Prances Varga other than to pass the checks here in question. It was agreed between defendant and Mrs. Amezcua that he would receive two-thirds and she one-third of the money realized from the cheeks.

Defendant furnished Mrs. Amezcua with five checks, each in the amount of $46.24, drawn on the Beverly-Vermont Branch of the Bank of America, signed with the name “J. McLaughlin” and made payable to Prances Varga. This bank did not have an account under the name of J. McLaughlin. In the opinion of a handwriting expert, the handwriting on the checks and on an exemplar made by defendant was that of the same person. Mrs. Amezcua passed the five checks at five different places of business, using the name Prances Varga and the nurse’s registration card, and received either cash or merchandise therefor. In due course, the cheeks were dishonored by the bank. Mrs. Amezcua gave the money received to defendant and he returned one-third to her.

In July, 1956, defendant and a Mrs. King undertook a similar venture. Defendant furnished her with 100 identical checks; they were each for $57.65, drawn on the Highland-Hollywood Branch of the Security-First National Bank, signed with the name “Dr. Allen A. Gorman” and made payable to Alice Burns. Defendant informed Mrs. King that the writing on the face of the checks was his.