Stapp v. United States, 9740.
| Decision Date | 12 June 1941 |
| Docket Number | No. 9740.,9740. |
| Parties | STAPP et al. v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Burt Barr, J. Forrest McCutcheon, and Maury Hughes, all of Dallas, Tex., and David H. Cannon, of Los Angeles, Cal., for appellants.
Clyde O. Eastus, U. S. Atty., and William P. Fonville, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Fort Worth, Tex., for appellee.
Before FOSTER, SIBLEY, and HUTCHESON, Circuit Judges.
Appellants were charged in an indictment in one count with violating section 215 Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C.A. § 338, by having devised a scheme to defraud one H. S. Christian, and mailing and causing to be mailed a letter for the purpose of executing the scheme. The indictment did not charge intent to defraud any other person or the public. Appellants pleaded not guilty. The jury was waived and the case was submitted to the judge on a stipulation as to the facts. The Court found against appellants, entered judgments of conviction and imposed sentences of a fine of $1000 and imprisonment for five years as to each.
Error is assigned to the overruling of motions for acquittal on the ground that the facts did not show a violation of the act.
The material facts may be briefly stated. There is no doubt defendants entered into a scheme to defraud Christian by falsely inducing him to believe that defendant Stapp was an agent of the Gulf Oil Corporation, authorized to buy an oil lease for that company from defendant Rudder for the price of $8,000 and that Stapp could buy the lease for $4,800. The proposal was made and accepted by Christian that he buy it from Rudder and in turn Stapp would buy it from him, for his principal, for $8,000, the profit of $3,200 to be divided between Christian and Stapp. The transaction was consummated at Pauls Valley National Bank, Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Christian went there, taking with him a letter of credit issued by the Citizens Bank of Tyler, Texas, in the sum of $5,000. He bought the lease, which subsequently proved to be valueless, and drew a check in favor of the Pauls Valley Bank on the Tyler bank, in the sum of $4,800, for which the Pauls Valley bank issued its cashier's check to Rudder in payment for the lease. Rudder accepted the cashier's check, payable to himself, and the next day cashed that check with the Pauls Valley bank and received the money. Christian's check on the Tyler Bank and the letter of credit were then sent by the Pauls Valley bank by railway express to its...
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