Greathouse v. United States

• Decision Date: 04 November 1948
• Docket Number: No. 5755.,5755.
• Citation: 170 F.2d 512
• Parties: GREATHOUSE v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

170 F.2d 512 (1948)

GREATHOUSE v. UNITED STATES.

No. 5755.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

November 4, 1948.

Philip B. Goldberg, of Providence, R. I., and J. G. Adams, Jr., of Asheville, N. C., for appellant.

Oscar H. Doyle, U. S. Atty., of Anderson, S. C., and Walter H. Hood, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Greenville, S. C., for appellee.

Before PARKER, Chief Judge, and SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.

SOPER, Circuit Judge.

The defendant in the District Court, having defrauded the Bank of Travelers Rest of Travelers Rest, South Carolina, of the sum of $22,500 on October 14, 1947, was convicted of violating Section 3 of the National Stolen Property Act, as amended, 18 U.S.C.A. § 415 now § 2314. He was sentenced on April 6, 1948, to three years' imprisonment on the first five counts of the indictment, and ten years' imprisonment on the last five counts, the sentences to run consecutively, provided that upon payment by the defendant of the sum of money due by him to the bank the last ten years' imprisonment was to be suspended. On June 8, 1948, the sentence was amended and the defendant was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on the first five counts and ten years' imprisonment on the last five counts, the sentences to run consecutively, provided that both sentences should be suspended upon payment to the bank of $22,000 as follows: $10,000 within fifteen days, and the remaining $12,000 at the rate of $200 per month, commencing on the first day of August, 1948.

The statute in question provides in part:

"* * * whoever with unlawful or fraudulent intent shall transport or cause to be transported in interstate or foreign commerce any falsely made, forged, altered, or counterfeited securities, knowing the same to have been falsely made, forged, altered, or counterfeited, or whoever with unlawful or fraudulent intent shall transport, or cause to be transported in interstate or foreign commerce, any bed piece, bed plate, roll, plate, die, seal, stone, type, or other tool, implement or thing used or fitted to be used in falsely making, forging, altering, or counterfeiting any security, or any part thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both".

Each of the ten counts of the indictment charges that the defendant, with unlawful and fraudulent intent, caused to be transported in interstate commerce from Travelers Rest, South Carolina, to Dallas, Texas, a falsely made and forged security; and in each count the security is described as a check or bill of exchange, drawn on the First National Bank of Dallas, Texas, for a specified sum of money payable to the defendant, and signed "Woodruff Motor Sale, Inc., J. W. Greathouse." The check in each instance also contained a description of an automobile to which, as the evidence showed, the transaction related. The checks amounted in the aggregate to $22,500.

It is conceded that the Bank of Travelers Rest cashed the ten checks for the defendant and thereby lost approximately $22,000; but it is contended that under the facts surrounding the transactions, the defendant did not violate the federal statute because the checks were not falsely made and forged securities within the meaning of the Act. The defendant was in the business of buying used cars for various motor companies and for himself. In September, 1947, he began to do business with the Bank of Travelers Rest, which forwarded various drafts for him to auto sales companies at Houston, Texas, that were duly honored. On October 14, 1947, in the morning, the defendant drew four checks in the form described in the indictment, signed the names of the makers appearing thereon, presented them to the bank, and stated to the cashier, according to the latter's testimony, that Woodruff Motor Sale, Inc. was one of the oldest and largest used car concerns in Texas and was worth a million dollars. The checks were cashed by the bank or credited to Greathouse's account in the bank, with the understanding that the original bills of sale and certificates of title to the automobiles should be attached to the checks; but the defendant surreptitiously inserted copies of the title papers in the envelope addressed and mailed to the Texas bank and retained the original title papers himself. In the afternoon of the same day a similar transaction took place between the bank and the defendant with respect to six other drafts and the title papers for six other cars. All ten checks were dishonored when they reached Dallas, because neither of the signers had an account in the...