Com. v. Grekis

• Decision Date: 14 January 1992
• Citation: 411 Pa.Super. 494,601 A.2d 1275
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Angelo GREKIS, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 1275

601 A.2d 1275

411 Pa.Super. 494

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Angelo GREKIS, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 11, 1991.

Decided Jan. 14, 1992.

Raymond Radakovich, Pittsburgh, for appellant.

James R. Gilmore, Asst. Dist. Atty., Pittsburgh, for Com., appellee.

Before CAVANAUGH, BECK and KELLY, JJ.

BECK, Judge:

Appellant Angelo Grekis was tried and convicted by a jury of nineteen (19) separate counts of both receiving stolen property ¹ and nineteen (19) separate counts of criminal conspiracy. ² The convictions arose as a result of a fencing operation involving the receipt and sale of stolen cigarettes by the operators of the Quick Stop restaurant in Pittsburgh. The primary issue at trial and on appeal is the sufficiency of the proof of appellant's participation in and knowledge of the fencing operation. Following the denial of post-trial motions, appellant was sentenced to consecutive terms of imprisonment on fourteen counts of receiving stolen property and concurrent terms of imprisonment on the remaining receiving stolen property counts. Appellant was sentenced to no further penalty on the conspiracy convictions. The aggregate term of imprisonment, therefore, was three and one half (3 1/2) to twenty-eight (28) years. Appellant's motion to modify sentence was subsequently denied. This appeal followed.

The evidence upon which appellant was convicted established the following. Lance Neuring was a burglar and a thief who forcibly entered numerous stores in Pittsburgh between August 16, 1987, and February 19, 1988, ³ and stole in excess of 1600 cartons of cigarettes. ⁴ Each carton contained ten packs of cigarettes. After each burglary, Neuring took his spoils to the Quick Stop restaurant where he sold the cigarettes for $5.00 a carton. Neuring had arranged for the delivery and sale of the stolen cigarettes with George Lignos, appellant's brother-in-law, who was on the premises and apparently in charge during the early morning hours when the deliveries customarily took place. The Commonwealth's theory of the case against appellant was that he was the actual owner and operator of the Quick Stop restaurant and that although George Lignos was the immediate physical conduit for the receipt and purchase of the stolen items, appellant had constructive possession of the stolen goods and reaped the benefit of their sale.

Neuring ordinarily delivered the sizable quantities of stolen cigarettes to the Quick Stop in large plastic bags or drums. He brought them upstairs to a storage-type area where electronic surveillance equipment oversaw the restaurant. Neuring originally met Lignos at the Quick Stop restaurant when a friend had suggested to him that the Quick Stop would be a place interested in purchasing the stolen merchandise. Neuring negotiated the $5.00 a carton price with Lignos and thereafter would call Lignos after the completion of each burglary and theft. Neuring usually took the cigarettes to the Quick Stop in the early morning hours, around one or two a.m., or even later. During the six month period at issue here, Neuring would bring the stolen cigarettes to the Quick Stop each time he burglarized one of the victimized stores. In fact, at trial Neuring was questioned about each specific burglary location and date and affirmatively testified that on each occasion he brought the stolen cigarettes to the Quick Stop restaurant. He estimated that this occurred two or three times a week and that the average booty each time amounted to one hundred cartons of cigarettes, more or less.

The cigarettes thus sold to the Quick Stop were then re-sold by the individual pack for approximately $1.25 a pack. The stolen cigarettes were stored and sold from behind the cigarette and candy counter towards the rear of the restaurant. Occasionally George Lignos was not available to transact business with Neuring and at those times Sterios Mavroides, a younger relative, would take the cigarettes and pay Neuring.

Lance Neuring testified at trial that he never sold cigarettes directly to appellant. Neuring testified that he didn't really know appellant and that appellant was not present when his dealings with Lignos were transacted. Neuring indicated that from what he understood, appellant "just worked during the day" and, as previously indicated, Neuring's business took him to the Quick Stop very late at night. However, in a previous statement to the police, Neuring indicated that although he never sold cigarettes to appellant, he saw him in the store periodically and had approached him on one occasion to see if he would arrange a transaction in Lignos' absence. According to the police statement, appellant told Neuring that Neuring should just keep dealing with Lignos. This incident was denied by Neuring at trial who maintained that he never had anything to do with appellant. In any event, the evidence was undisputed that Neuring did not directly sell the contraband to appellant. The Commonwealth never asserted otherwise, and based its case instead on a theory of constructive possession and conspiracy.

The two police officers chiefly responsible for investigating the case against appellant were Detective Howard Parsons and Detective John Balobeck, each of whom testified for the Commonwealth. Parsons is a twenty-two year veteran of the Pittsburgh police department and spent the majority of that time investigating burglaries. Parsons testified that Lance Neuring confessed to the burglaries after being arrested on unrelated charges. In his confession, Neuring identified the Quick Stop as the locale for disposal of the stolen items and indicated to police the nature of his arrangement with Lignos and Mavroides. As a result of Neuring's disclosures, more than 600 cartons of stolen cigarettes were seized by the police from the Quick Stop. ⁵ The cigarettes were recovered from racks at the rear of the restaurant, where cigarettes and candy were sold to the public.

Detective Parsons was very familiar with the Quick Stop restaurant and with Angelo Grekis, the appellant. Parsons stated that he had had many conversations, "probably two dozen", with Angelo Grekis and that "on more than one occasion" appellant had indicated to the detective that he was the owner of the Quick Stop and that it was "his establishment." Parsons also testified that appellant had stated to him that George Lignos was the night manager of the Quick Stop but that subsequent to Lignos' arrest on these charges, appellant had fired him. ⁶ To Parsons, the import of appellant's remarks was that the Quick Stop was "[appellant's] establishment solely and that George Lignos and Sterios Mavroides were employees of it." Parsons also testified that one evening he was watching the news on television when he saw appellant interviewed. Apparently, appellant was in a newsworthy dispute with another business owner in the neighborhood. During the course of the television interview, appellant plainly indicated that the Quick Stop was "his establishment."

On cross-examination, in response to defense counsel's persistent questioning regarding how the detective knew that appellant "owned" the Quick Stop, Parsons answered that the fact that appellant "owns and runs" the Quick Stop is "common knowledge throughout our department, ... common knowledge in the street, and by his own admission." Parsons noted that the area in which the Quick Stop is located is a focus of a great deal of law enforcement activity and that, as a result, he and his partner go past the restaurant on many occasions. Parsons stated that on most occasions, appellant can be observed either inside the Quick Stop or standing out in front of it. Parsons also stated that when George Lignos was questioned subsequent to his arrest in this case, Lignos said that appellant owned the Quick Stop restaurant and that he (Lignos) had worked there since appellant opened the business.

Through Detective Parsons, the Commonwealth also introduced evidence of a license issued by the City of Pittsburgh for electrical/mechanical/music/video devices located at the Quick Stop restaurant. The license was issued to Angelo Grekis and listed him as owner. The license had been seized by the police from the Quick Stop restaurant.

The Commonwealth also called George Lignos as a witness. As noted above, Lignos is appellant's brother-in-law and is the person with whom Neuring dealt directly. Immediately following his arrest, Lignos gave a statement to the police in which he indicated that appellant was the proprietor of the Quick Stop and that he, Lignos, was "only the manager at night for him." This meant that Lignos was at the Quick Stop from nine at night until nine in the morning. In the same statement to police, Lignos indicated that he took the money to pay Neuring for the stolen cigarettes out of the cash register at the Quick Stop. At the close of his direct examination, Lignos confirmed that the statement that he gave police after arrest was accurate.

On cross-examination by defense counsel, however, Lignos testified that appellant knew nothing about the cigarette buying scheme and that it was something that he devised by himself in order to have extra money to spend at the race track. Further, Lignos testified that, despite what he had told police regarding the proprietorship of the Quick Stop, he and his sister, appellant's wife, really owned the restaurant and that appellant had no ownership interest in it. In fact, Lignos stated that he owned 51% of the corporation's stock and appellant's wife owned the remaining 49% of the stock. The testimony was that the stock, which originally had been in appellant's name, was transferred to Lignos in 1985. Further, Lignos asserted that Mrs. Grekis ran the business and was there on a daily basis, primarily at lunch hours, and was responsible for ordering supplies and for other business matters. Lignos stated that he told the police otherwise because...