People v. Thompson

• Decision Date: 30 October 2001
• Docket Number: 1,4770
• Parties: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT, v. JEROME THOMPSON,4770 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK APPELLATE DIVISION: FIRST JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT v JEROME THOMPSON, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT

4770

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

APPELLATE DIVISION: FIRST JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

October 30, 2001

Frank Glaser - for respondent,

William A. Loeb - for defendant-appellant.

Williams, J.P., Andrias, Wallach, Lerner, Marlow, JJ.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Laura Visitacion-Lewis, J.), rendered July 12, 2000, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of grand larceny in the fourth degree, criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree and petit larceny, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to two concurrent terms of 2 to 4 years concurrent with a term of 1 year, unanimously affirmed.

The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. It is undisputed that defendant stole a pocketbook from an undercover officer. Defendant contends that since the credit card contained in that pocketbook was a "decoy" American Express credit card, it was not a "credit card" under the definition contained in General Business Law § 511, which is incorporated into Penal Law § 155.00(7).

American Express generated an account number and produced a credit card with a fictitious cardholder's name, and distributed that card to a representative of the New York City Police Department. The credit card was valid and had a $100 credit line. Thus, anyone who represented herself as the fictitious cardholder could use the card to make purchases.

The statute (§ 511[1]) requires that a credit card be "issued by a person to another person which may be used to obtain a cash advance or a loan or credit or to purchase or lease property or services on the credit of the issuer or of the holder." A "`person' includes an individual...or any other legal or commercial entity." (§ 511[2]).

Defendant contends that since the cardholder was fictitious, the card was not "issued to another person" under the terms of the General Business Law. That statute does not define the term "issue." However, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 622 (10th ed 1995) defines the word "issue" as, inter alia, "to put forth and distribute." Accordingly, we conclude that the decoy card was "put forth and distribute[d]," and thus "issued," to the New York City Police Department. Furthermore, both the Department and the particular sergeant who received the card qualify as "persons" under the statute, notwithstanding that the...