People v. Kondor

Opinion

SONENSHINE, J.

Sophia Kondor was convicted by jury of five counts of grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. 1) and four counts of forgery (Pen. Code, § 470). The jury also found true the allegation that one of the thefts exceeded $25,000. Kondor contends: (1) precomplaint delay in prosecution denied her a fair trial; (2) it was prejudicial error to instruct the jury adverse inferences could be drawn from Kondor’s failure to explain evidence against her; and (3) her statements were admitted in violation of

Miranda.

2

I

On March 20, 1980, LeRoy McFadden loaned Kondor $18,000, secured by a second trust deed on a house in Palm Springs. Actually, the deed was fraudulent and the lot vacant. Kondor did not tell McFadden she no longer owned the lot, having conveyed it to Kalman Toth nine days earlier.

[55]

In November, McFadden loaned Kondor an additional $25,000. In exchange, he received a note from Laurence Hopkinson, secured by a second trust deed on a parcel of real property Hopkinson owned. Kondor told McFadden she knew Hopkinson, who needed additional money because he recently purchased the house. In reality, the deed and note were fraudulent; Hopkinson had been dead since 1979.

In January 1981, McFadden again loaned Kondor money, this time in the amount of $35,000. The security for this loan was a deed of trust to property in Riverside and a personal note from Kondor. The deed was fraudulent; there was no such property.

On April 16, Jerry Iacovelli loaned Kondor $20,000. The loan was secured by another forged trust deed on a home in Laguna Hills.

In May and June 1980, Frank Marabello loaned Kondor more than $12,000 in two separate transactions, both secured by fraudulent trust deeds. One of the phony trust deeds was for the same vacant lot Kondor had used earlier in the McFadden transaction.

All the documents Kondor gave the victims bore the notary seal and forged signature of Melvin Miller, who had worked in the same real estate office with Kondor from 1978 to 1981. Miller’s notary stamp was kept in an unlocked drawer to which Kondor had access.