People v. Verbiesen, Cr. 16849

• Citation: 86 Cal.Rptr. 320,6 Cal.App.3d 938
• Decision Date: 23 April 1970
• Docket Number: Cr. 16849
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arnold Joseph VERBIESEN, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 320

86 Cal.Rptr. 320

6 Cal.App.3d 938

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arnold Joseph VERBIESEN, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 16849.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 5, California.

April 23, 1970.

Alan Saltzman, Hollywood, for defendant and appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Laurence M. Sarnoff, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

FRAMPTON, ^* Associate Justice Pro Tem.

Statement of the Case

Defendant was charged by information with two counts of grand theft (counts 1 and 2) involving motor vehicles (Pen.Code, § 487(3)), and with two counts of receiving stolen property (counts 3 and 4, Pen.Code, § 496), relating to the same motor vehicles alleged to have been stolen in counts 1 and 2 of the information. Defendant's motion to dismiss under section 995, Penal Code was denied. A plea of not guilty was entered. A motion to suppress evidence under section 1538.5 of the Penal Code, submitted on the transcript of the evidence taken at the preliminary examination, was denied.

A jury trial was duly waived, and the cause was submitted on the transcript of the evidence taken at the preliminary examination. A second motion to suppress was made under section 1538.5 of the Penal Code, and was denied. The defendant was found not guilty on counts 1 and 2 and was found guilty on counts 3 and 4.

A probation report was ordered and at the time set for hearing on the matter of probation, the trial court referred the matter to the Director of the Department of Corrections for review regarding placement of the defendant pursuant to the provisions of section 1203.03 of the Penal Code, and continued further proceedings. Upon defendant's return from the Department of Corrections, probation was denied, and he was sentenced to state prison on each of the counts 3 and 4 of the information, such sentences to run concurrently with each other. The appeal is from the judgment.

Statement of Facts

On February 19, 1968, Joseph Hajec, who resided at 1200 Riverside Drive in the City of Burbank, was the owner of a 1967 Jaguar, bearing license plate number TVG 655. At 8 p.m. of that day, he parked his car at 3251 Cahuenga Boulevard, just off the Hollywood Freeway, and locked it. He returned at 10:30 p.m. to where he had parked his car and found it missing. He had given no one permission to take the car. Mr. Hajec's vehicle registration, number A 2319306 (exhibit 1), was in the car when he parked it.

For approximately two years prior to March 1968, Mrs. Edmond Shaffer had rented a private garage owned by her to one Richard Dagress. About February 1968, Mr. Dagress asked to transfer his tenancy from a garage that he was then renting from Mrs. Shaffer to a private garage owned by the latter at 1506 Glendale Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles. Dagress paid the rent on these premises for the period of February 21 to March 21, 1968.

Sometime in March 1968, Dagress told Mrs. Shaffer that he was leaving town and that a friend of his was taking over the garage. Mrs. Shaffer had no contact with Dagress after this conversation.

On April 4, 1968, Michael Siegal, who lived at 7225 Hollywood Boulevard, was at work at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He owned a 1966 Jaguar, bearing Illinois license plate number 893557 (exhibit 2). His wife had the use of this car on April 4. When Mr. Siegal returned from work on April 5, the Jaguar was missing from its usual parking place in the garage of his apartment. Mrs. Siegal alone had permission to drive the car. Mrs. Siegal testified that she had parked the Jaguar in the garage of their apartment about 4 p.m. on April 4. She had not given anyone permission to take the car.

On April 16, 1968, Mrs. Shaffer gave the defendant a rent receipt for $10 for rental of the garage at 1506 Glendale Boulevard, covering the period from March 21 to May 1. This was the same garage that Dagress had rented just prior to his telling Mrs. Shaffer that he was leaving town. At that time the defendant gave Mrs. Shaffer his telephone number and address which she recorded on her copy of the receipt. The garage is across the street, and Mrs. Shaffer could not see it from her home.

On April 26, 1968, having received information from Sergeant Baruk, of Van Nuys Detectives, that an Arnold Verbiesen was using the garage at 1506 Glendale Boulevard to store and strip stolen Jaguars, Brian Murphy, a police officer for the City of Los Angeles, assigned to the Metropolitan Division, placed the garage under surveillance. On this occasion he observed a double garage at the rear of 1506 Glendale Boulevard. Officer Murphy did not observe any activity during approximately two hours that he watched the premises. However, as he approached the garage, he observed a double type garage door with an opening between the doors. Through this opening he observed a blue Jaguar bearing Illinois license number 893557. Officer Murphy ran this license number and it came back to him as a 'Hollywood stolen.' He attempted to find out who owned the garage from people at two neighboring locations but received no response. He testified that from and after April 26, 1968, he knew that the car he had observed inside the garage was a stolen vehicle. He again placed the garage under surveillance about three days after the 26th, and again looked inside the garage but observed no change. He had the garage under surveillance five or six times between April 26 through June 12, 1968. On June 12, 1968, Officer Murphy noticed that the whole front assembly of the Jaguar had been removed, the wheels were gone, and the vehicle appeared to be jacked up off the floor. At no time during his surveillance of the garage did Officer Murphy see the defendant or anyone answering the description of Dagress, given to him, in or about the premises.

After May 1, 1968, Mrs. Shaffer received no more rent money from the defendant. During May and June she called the telephone number given her by the defendant, but was unable to contact him.

On June 12, 1968, Officer Murphy learned that Mrs. Shaffer owned the garage. He approached her, and in response to his inquiry she stated that she was the owner of the property, and that she had rented the garage to a party named A. Verbiesen. She told Officer Murphy that she had not received the rent money for the garage, and that the rent was in arrears a month and a half.

Officer Murphy asked permission of Mrs. Shaffer to enter the garage and she gave such permission. After receiving permission, Officer Murphy and Mrs. Shaffer went to the garage, they removed the lock and entered. Inside the garage Officer Murphy observed a partially stripped 1966 blue Jaguar bearing the Illinois license plate of the vehicle described by the witness Siegal. A 1967 Jaguar engine block was found in an area to the rear of the 1966 Jaguar. An identification plate was found lying next to the engine block, and Joseph Hajec's registration slip was found lying next to the plate. The windshield of the 1966 Jaguar had been removed and was lying on the floor. The 1966 Jaguar was supported on jacks, two jacks on either side of the vehicle.

At the time Officer...