People v. Dewindt

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CURTIS, J.

Appellant was charged with the embezzlement of $942 from the Imperial Irrigation District. The jury returned a verdict against the defendant, and he appeals from the judgment of conviction, and from the order of the court denying his motion for a new trial.

The defendant was employed as assistant cashier of the Calipatria Division of the Imperial Irrigation District from the twenty-sixth day of July, 1923, to and including the eighteenth day of August, 1923. On August 9, 1923, Mr. Hewitt, the cashier of this division of the district, went on a vacation, and the defendant was left in charge of the office of the district during the absence of the cashier. The defendant was arrested on Saturday, the sixteenth day of August, 1923, at about 7 o’clock in the evening. At the time of his arrest he had on his person $792, money belonging to the Imperial Irrigation District. He had previously made arrangements with one Pelfey to drive him from Calipatria to Calexico, and he was arrested just as he was leaving his room on his way to Pelfey’s machine, in which he was to ride from Calipatria to Calexico. A few days before his arrest he had made several trips to Mexicali, which is just across the international boundary line, between California and Mexico, from' the city of Calexico. On one of these trips he had been observed by Mr. Guest, the superintendent of the Calipatria Division of the Irrigation ’ District, who testified that he saw the defendant gambling. Immediately after his arrest he said to the arresting officer: “Well, there is no use, I had just as well be a good sport. I am only short about $100 and I will fix that up all right.” Mr. Guest, the superintendent, testified that he had a conversation with the defendant at the city jail at Calipatria shortly after his arrest, and the following is Mr. Guest’s testimony: “He said he spent some of the money in Mexicali and he intended to repay it back, but that he had spent so much he didn’t see how he could pay it back. I asked him how much he had spent, and he said $150 or $200 at the outside. Q. Did he say how he spent the money in Mexicali? A. Yes, sir; gambling. Q. State anything else he said. A. He said after thinking he had spent so much he couldn’t pay it back, he might as well get all he could and get away before they caught him.”

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