P. v. Wilson CA1/5

Filed 3/28/13 P. v. Wilson CA1/5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, A134570 v. (Solano County ESTHER D. WILSON, Super.Ct.No. FCR262375)

Defendant and Appellant. ____________________________________/

A jury convicted appellant Esther D. Wilson of forgery (Pen. Code, § 470, subd. (c))1 and filing a false or forged instrument (§ 115, subd. (a)). The court placed her on probation. On appeal, appellant contends insufficient evidence supports the convictions. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In 2000, Make Porter lived with his wife, Louise Toles, in a house he owned at 33 Woodridge Place in Vallejo (the house or the property). Porter died in July 2002 and

1 Unless otherwise noted, all further statutory references are to the Penal Code. Appellant’s codefendants, Melvin Strong, Jr., Kevin Merck Frazier, and Brian Maxwell Fabian, are not parties to this appeal and are mentioned only where relevant to the issues raised in appellant’s appeal. 1

Toles continued to live in the house. A few months after Porter died, Toles’s daughter, Grennan Whitfield, moved into the house to care for Toles. After Toles had a stroke in April 2003, Whitfield began to help Toles organize her finances. In early 2004, Whitfield learned that Porter had taken out a loan on the house before he married Toles and that Toles was three months behind on the loan payments. Shortly thereafter, Whitfield borrowed $1,300 from a “dear friend . . . Ms. Hattie,” to “pay what was owed on the house, to catch up with that bill.” Whitfield then tried to borrow money from various loan agencies using the house as collateral to repay Ms. Hattie and to get her mother’s “credit cards straightened out. . . .” The loan agencies, however, would not loan Whitfield money because Toles’s name was not on the title to the house. Kevin Frazier Obtains a Grant Deed to the House At that point, Whitfield called Ms. Hattie’s son, Melvin Strong, Jr., and told him she needed help getting a loan. Strong told Whitfield he had a friend, Frazier, who could help her. Whitfield and Toles met with Frazier; Whitfield told him they needed $5,000 to repay Ms. Hattie and to settle Toles’s credit card debt. Whitfield explained that she could not borrow money because “the title deed to the house was in [Porter’s] name” and that Porter was deceased. Frazier represented he was a loan agent and said he could help Whitfield and Toles and asked for Porter’s social security card. Several months later, in September 2004, Toles became very ill and was admitted to the hospital. Whitfield called Frazier and told him her mother was “in critical condition” and that she needed to get Toles’s financial “problems resolved[.]” Frazier came to Toles’s hospital room with Caitlin America, a notary; he said he needed Toles’s thumbprint and Whitfield’s signature on numerous documents, which would help get financing. According to Whitfield, Toles “couldn’t speak. She was just laying there, and [Frazier] took her hand and took her thumbprint.” Neither Frazier nor the notary tried to