People v. Ware CA2/8

California Court of Appeal Feb 14, 2024 No. B329514Unpublished

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Holding. The court held that the hotel was a direct victim of the defendant's identity theft and was entitled to restitution for the full amount of unpaid services, as the losses were a direct and foreseeable result of the defendant's criminal conduct.

Issues

Whether a hotel is a 'direct victim' entitled to restitution under Penal Code section 1202.4 when a defendant uses stolen identity to incur unpaid charges.
Whether the trial court abused its discretion in ordering restitution for the total amount of unpaid hotel services rather than limiting it to the specific date charged in the count of conviction.

Disposition. Affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“The hotel was a direct victim and is entitled to restitution.”

“Jones is immaterial because the hotel’s losses were a direct and foreseeable result of Ware’s criminal conduct of using someone else’s identity to rent hotel rooms and there was no intervening cause.”

“By statute, courts cannot consider a defendant’s inability to pay when determining the amount of a restitution order.”

Filed 2/14/24 P. v. Ware CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B329514

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. LA097808 v.

COBY MORGAN WARE,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Neetu S. Badhan-Smith, Judge. Affirmed. Jolene Larimore, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Jason Tran, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Taylor Nguyen, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________

Coby Morgan Ware used someone else’s identity to run a tab at a hotel. He appeals a restitution order to repay the hotel. We affirm. Undesignated statutory citations are to the Penal Code. Beginning on September 4, 2022, Ware rented hotel rooms using Ronald Holloway’s identity. To check in, Ware used an identification card and credit card with Holloway’s name. Ware sometimes rented multiple rooms at a time. In total, he owed the hotel nearly $12,000, which he attempted to pay using Holloway’s and another person’s credit cards. On September 27, 2022, the hotel called the police because a credit card company had reversed charges for Ware’s rooms due to fraud. Police arrested Ware. They found an identification and credit card in Holloway’s name, as well as licenses and credit cards in other people’s names. The prosecution charged Ware with unauthorized use of personal identifying information of Holloway on September 4, 2022 (§ 530.5, subd. (a)) (count one), and three counts of possession of personal identifying information with intent to defraud after an earlier conviction for unauthorized use of personal identifying information on September 27, 2022 (id., subd. (c)(2)) (counts two, three, and four). Ware pleaded no contest to the first count. He said a police report was the factual basis for the plea. The court dismissed the remaining counts and sentenced Ware to two days in jail and two years of formal probation. One condition of Ware’s probation was to make victim restitution. The only victim to seek restitution was the hotel, which requested $11,836.90 for more than 40 nights of unpaid room rentals as well as food and drink charges. The hotel manager

People v. Ware CA2/8

AI Brief

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B329514

COBY MORGAN WARE,

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