State v. Camp, 90-759
| Decision Date | 25 April 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-759,90-759 |
| Citation | 16 Fla. L. Weekly 1113,579 So.2d 763 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Jo Ann CAMP, Appellee. 579 So.2d 763, 16 Fla. L. Week. 1113 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Norman R. Wolfinger, State Atty., Sanford, for appellant.
F. Wesley Blankner, Jr. of Katz, Jaeger and Blankner, Orlando, for appellee.
Jo Ann Camp, while employed as a bookkeeper by Brightwater Pools, Inc., improperly obtained or used company checks for her own use. She either forged her employer's signature or improperly used blank checks pre-signed by him. She was ultimately caught.
The State charged her with 36 counts of forgery, 36 counts of uttering a forgery and 42 counts of dealing in stolen property. The trial court dismissed all counts alleging that Camp was dealing in stolen property. The state appeals. We affirm.
The State relies on Dixon v. State, 541 So.2d 637 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989) for the proposition that a thief who puts stolen property into the stream of commerce is guilty of dealing in stolen property. Clearly Camp, by negotiating checks at various banks, did that in the case at bar. But we believe that the State misconstrues the effect of section 812.019, Florida Statutes (1989). This crime, dealing in stolen property, is an anti-fencing statute and is intended to punish those who knowingly deal in property stolen by others. It is not intended to convert a third degree felony into a second degree felony merely because the thief sells the stolen property rather than consumes it.
The legislative history of section 812.019 contains the following language: 1
The attached proposed committee bill is an adaption of the Model Theft and Fencing Act, consistent with the organization of Florida law, as proposed by G. Robert Blakey and Michael Goldsmith, Criminal Redistribution of Stolen Property: The Need for Law Reform, 74 Mich.L.Rev. 1512 (1976). That article focuses on the receivers of stolen property as the central figures in theft activities, and that the law should be focused on the criminal system that redistributes stolen goods.
In this regard the statutes define "dealer in property" to mean any person in the business of buying and selling property (Sec. 812.012(1), Fla.Stat.), and while both theft and dealing in stolen property may be charged in the same information and tried in the same action, a guilty verdict may enter for only one (Sec. 812.025, Fla.Stat.). This does not mean however, that the jury can arbitrarily choose between them. If...
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State v. Michielli
...fences or middlemen, not to individuals who stole the property. Michielli, 81 Wash.App. at 778, 916 P.2d 458 (citing Florida v. Camp, 579 So.2d 763 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1991), aff'd, 596 So.2d 1055 (Fla.1992)). We do not believe Camp supports the court's The defendant in Camp had stolen blank c......
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State v. Michielli
...all second-degree thefts into first-degree felonies when the accused sells or pawns the items taken. See, e.g., Florida v. Camp, 579 So.2d 763 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1991) (Florida anti-fencing statute intended to punish those who knowingly deal in property stolen by others; not intended to conve......
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State v. Graham
...937 P.2d 587 (1997), our Supreme Court reversed a decision of this court and in the process discussed a Florida case, Florida v. Camp, 579 So.2d 763 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1991), aff'd,596 So.2d 1055 (1992). The defendant in Camp had stolen blank checks from her workplace and negotiated them to p......
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State v. Camp
...for petitioner. F. Wesley Blankner, Jr. of Katz, Jaeger and Blankner, Orlando, for respondent. BARKETT, Justice. We review State v. Camp, 579 So.2d 763 (5th DCA 1991), based on direct and express conflict with Dixon v. State, 541 So.2d 637 (Fla. 1st DCA), review dismissed, 547 So.2d 1209 (F......