People v. Fude

MOORE, P. J.

Convicted on the findings of the court, appellant with many words and no logic seeks a reversal on the grounds that (1) the proof was insufficient to warrant the judgment and (2) he was deprived of his constitutional rights.

In violation of the Penal Code (§ 459) this prisoner entered a telephone booth in the lobby of a downtown hotel in Los Angeles, July 10, 1952 and stuffed the instrument’s coin-return chute with paper. His movements were observed by two special officers, inspectors for the telephone company. All telephones in the lobby were found in working order except the one in booth 7. They found its coin-return chute stuffed, the coins resting on the wadding. Inspector Blum, having notched five dimes with an x and having marked each with an ink spot on the eye, replaced them with the money in the chute on the paper, inserted an “out of order” sign and watched for the transgressor. At 6 p.m. appellant strolled past, glanced at the booths and at the two strangers and disappeared. At 8 :00 p. m. he entered booth No. 1 and soon made his exit. The inspectors entered the same booth and found wadding in the coin-return chute, but no money upon it. At 8 :10 p.m. they removed the marked coins from the instrument in booth 7, put them in the telephone in booth 1

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and placed an “out-of-order” sign on it. At 9:15 o’clock appellant entered booth 1 and soon departed. The inspectors found the wadding still there but the coins gone. They pursued appellant, but lost him. On July 11 they checked all the instruments in the lobby and found not only the instrument in booth 1 stuffed, but that in booth 7 also. At 7:30 p.m. they marked five dimes and put them in the chutes of the two instruments, inserted in each an “out-of-order” sign and waited. At 9:15 appellant entered booth 1, followed by the inspectors who accused him of stealing the money from the chute. In compliance with their demands he laid 10 dimes on the table, two of which bore the marks placed thereon by Inspector Blum on the preceding night. When he was advised of their three observations of his attempts to purloin the moneys from the telephonic instruments, he offered to tell more if he “could plead out to petty theft.”

At his trial the inspectors produced the money. Having exhibited the marked coins, they testified to the character of the markings. Also, Officer Billingsley testified that appellant told him that he had plugged the instrument in booth 1 and later returned and extracted the money; that he had a long record and was interested in getting the charge of burglary reduced to petty theft.