JAMES MCARTHUR HUTCHESON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1982-02-03
No. 80-1252
ORFINGER, J., concurs., COWART, J., concurs in result only.
409 So. 2d 207 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1982) Caution
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

James Hutcheson was convicted of trafficking in stolen property after selling a forklift that bore the serial number of a forklift reported stolen to police. The court reversed the conviction, holding that the evidence showed Hutcheson was an authorized agent with authority to sell the forklift, and the actual crime—if any—was misappropriation of funds rather than trafficking in stolen property.


Holding

The conviction must be reversed because there was insufficient evidence to support the charge as stated in the information. Hutcheson had authority as an agent to sell the forklift, so he committed no crime in selling it; if any crime occurred, it was misappropriation of funds, not trafficking in stolen property.


Headnotes

[1] A person commits a felony of the second degree by trafficking in property that the person knows or should know was stolen.

[2] "Stolen property" includes property that has been the subject of any criminally wrongful taking.

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Key Quotes

“Any person who traffics in, or endeavors to traffic in, property that he knows or should know was stolen shall be guilty of a felony of the second degree”

The statutory definition of the trafficking in stolen property charge under Florida Statutes section 812.019(1)

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Facts & Procedural History

Hutcheson was a Florida sales representative for Spyder Sales and Service Company. On February 14, 1979, he reported a Spyder forklift with serial num…

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Opinion of the Court
DAUKSCH, Chief Judge.

DAUKSCH, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for trafficking in stolen property.

Appellant was the Florida sales representative for Spyder Sales and Service Company, a Texas equipment manufacturing company. Spyder shipped forklifts to appellant who received, possessed, stored and sold them on behalf of Spyder. On February 14,1979, appellant reported to the police that a Spyder forklift bearing serial number FE4470978 had been stolen. On March 2, 1979, appellant sold and delivered a Spyder forklift with serial number FE4000978 and Spyder’s warranty papers and received from Mr. Horn a check for the purchase price made payable to Spyder Sales and Service. Appellant cashed the check through a business associate, went to Texas and delivered at least part of the Horn sale proceeds to a representative of Spyder. Then he gave notice of resignation as an employee and left Spyder’s employment. Soon thereafter Mr. Horn called on Spyder for warranty work and it came to light that the original serial number on that forklift was FE4470978, the number on the forklift reported stolen. On these facts appellant was convicted of a violation of section 812.019(1), Florida Statutes (1979), which provides in part that Any person who traffics in, or endeavors to traffic in, property that he knows or should know was stolen shall be guilty of a felony of the second degree....

Section 812.012, Florida Statutes (1979), sets out definitions for the chapter and specifically provides:

(6) “Stolen property” means property that has been the subject of any criminally wrongful taking.

(7) “Traffic” means: (a) to sell, transfer, distribute, dispense, or otherwise dispose of property; (b) to buy, receive, possess, obtain control of, or use property with the intent to sell, transfer, distribute, dispense, or otherwise dispose of such property.

The appellant asserts and we agree that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction as charged in the information. The information charges that the appellant “did . . . unlawfully traffic in or endeavor to traffic in property, to-wit: a forklift that he knew or should know (sic) was stolen.” The evidence was clear that appellant was the authorized agent of the company which owned the forklift and he had the authority to sell it. He committed no crime in selling the forklift. His crime, if any, was in failing to remit the full proceeds from the sale to his employer. If the state had charged him with feloniously misappropriating those funds perhaps the evidence would have supported a conviction. The state attorney made a mistake, charged one crime and proved something else. Thus we must reverse the conviction.

REVERSED.

ORFINGER, J., concurs.

COWART, J., concurs in result only.


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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Selwach, 883 So. 2d 864 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004)
    …are sufficient facts involved here to support a finding that a theft occurred at least by the time Wiek sold the items for his own personal benefit and without authority from his employer. The case relied upon by the trial court, Hutcheson v. State, 409 So. 2d 207 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), is distinguishable from the present case because the defendant in that case, unlike the ap-pellee here, had authority from his employer to sell the subject property. The order under review is affirmed as to the ruling on counts…

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