O'Neal v. State

• Decision Date: 30 January 1912
• Docket Number: 3,861.
• Citation: 73 S.E. 696,10 Ga.App. 474
• Parties: O'NEAL v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

73 S.E. 696

10 Ga.App. 474

O'NEAL v. STATE.

No. 3,861.

Court of Appeals of Georgia

January 30, 1912

Syllabus by the Court.

In an indictment for the offense of cheating and swindling by obtaining money through false and fraudulent statements and representations, the ownership of the money thus obtained and the name of the person cheated and defrauded should be stated; and the proof in support of these essential allegations must be in strict conformity therewith; otherwise the variance will be fatal. 2 Bishop's New Criminal Procedure, § 184.

An allegation in an indictment for cheating and swindling that the person "cheated and defrauded" was Robert Hutchinson is not supported by proof that the bank of which Robert Hutchinson was assistant cashier was in fact cheated and defrauded by the presentation of a check to Hutchinson as such assistant cashier, accompanied by certain false and fraudulent representations relating to the check, which induced Hutchinson as cashier to cash the check out of the funds of the bank. Under these facts, the bank, and not Hutchinson as an individual, was cheated and defrauded. The fact that Hutchinson subsequently discovered that the bank check cashed by him for the accused out of the money of the bank of which he was cashier was worthless and that he had been deceived by the false representations made to him in reference thereto, and paid the loss thus incurred by the bank, did not change the character of the transaction. The offense was complete when Hutchinson as cashier paid out the money of the bank for the worthless check induced to do so by the false and fraudulent representations then made to him by the accused; and the subsequent act of Hutchinson in making good the loss to the bank did not have the legal effect of relating back to the time when the act of cheating and swindling was fully accomplished and of making him the person cheated and defrauded.

Error from City Court of La Grange; Frank Harwell, Judge.

W. R O'Neal was convicted of cheating and swindling, and brings error. Reversed.

The indictment alleged, in substance, that W. R. O'Neal "did defraud and cheat Robert Hutchinson in the sum and out of thirty dollars in money, of the value of thirty dollars, by using the following deceitful means and artful practice, to wit: On said day and date O'Neal presented to said Robert Hutchinson, assistant cashier of the La Grange National Bank, a corporation, a...