People v. Mahlman

Foote, C. The defendant was convicted of the crime of embezzlement; from the judgment rendered therein, and an order refusing a new trial, he has appealed.

His first contention is, that the information filed against him was defective, and did not state any offense, in that it did not specify the person whose property he had embezzled.

That part of the information material to this discussion is: “The said Henry Mahlman, on or about the thirteenth day of April, A. D. 1886, at the said city and county of San Francisco, was an officer, to wit, the treasurer, of Germania Lodge No. 7, Order of Hermann Sons, [586]an association existing under and pursuant to the laws of the state of California, and as such officer, there then and there came and was under his control and in possession by virtue of .his trust as such officer, $194.45, in lawful money of the United States. And the said Henry Mahlman, while said money and personal property was so in his possession and under his control by virtue of bis trust as such officer, then and there, to wit, on or about said thirteenth day of April, 1886, at said city and county of San Francisco, did willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and fraudulently appropriate said money and personal property to his own use, and not to a use in the due and lawful execution of his said trust, the said money and personal property then and there being the property of said association.”

Section 503 of the Penal Code reads: “Embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted.”

Section 504 reads: “Every officer of this state, or of any county, city, city and county, or other municipal corporation or subdivision thereof, and every deputy, clerk, or servant of any such officer, and every officer, director, trustee, clerk, servant, or agent of any association, society, or corporation (public or private), who fraudulently appropriates to any use or purpose, not in the due and lawful execution of his trust, any property which he has in his possession or under his control by virtue of his trust, or secretes it with a fraudulent intent to appropriate it to such use or purpose, is guilty of embezzlement.”

The information, it will be seen, is drawn substantially in the language of the statute, and is sufficient, unless, as the defendant claims, it was necessary to state who were the persons composing the association.