People v. Ghoston CA2/2

Filed 2/5/15 P. v. Ghoston CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE, B249929

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. TA120625) v.

YOLANDA GHOSTON,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Ricardo R. Ocampo, Judge. Affirmed as modified. Gail Ganaja, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Margaret E. Maxwell, Supervising Deputy Attorney General and Peggy Z. Huang, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Yolanda Ghoston (defendant) challenges her convictions arising from identity theft and theft from an elderly man because the trial court admitted evidence that she did nearly the same thing to another elderly man to prove her identity, intent and a common scheme or plan. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this evidence. We affirm the conviction, but require that the abstract be corrected on a handful of issues. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Defendant met Javier Fernandez (Fernandez) along a public walkway near the Queen Mary. Fernandez was a 63-year-old widower who lived alone and had significant health issues. Seeing Fernandez in distress, defendant offered to help. The next day, she again encountered Fernandez near the Queen Mary. This time, she followed him home. Within a week, she offered to help him around the house, moved in with him, and asked to borrow $600 ($400 to fix her car, and $200 to buy marijuana). Within a month of meeting Fernandez, defendant was rifling through his financial documents. She took Fernandez’s debit card without his knowledge or permission while he was hospitalized for eight days, and used it to make more than 25 purchases and ATM withdrawals totaling about $5,000, including withdrawals from an ATM at the International Longshoreman Credit Union (defendant worked as a longshoreman). After Fernandez’s release from the hospital, defendant was caught on video buying two televisions with his debit card. When Fernandez reported the unauthorized use of his card, defendant was arrested; from her purse, police seized a trove of documents in Fernandez’s name—a DMV registration card, title to a vehicle, a quitclaim deed, an insurance policy, and a blank check that also had Fernandez’s deceased wife’s name on it. Her purse also contained a property tax bill addressed to Fernandez’s deceased wife and a small baggie of morphine. The People charged defendant with identity theft (Pen. Code, § 530.5, subd. (a)) 1 (count 1), two counts of second degree commercial burglary (§ 459) (counts 2 & 3), theft