Akintoye v. State

798 S.E.2d 720, 340 Ga. App. 777, 2017 WL 1025312, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 141
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 16, 2017
DocketA16A1625
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 798 S.E.2d 720 (Akintoye v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Akintoye v. State, 798 S.E.2d 720, 340 Ga. App. 777, 2017 WL 1025312, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 141 (Ga. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinions

MILLER, Presiding Judge.

Following a jury trial, Joseph Akintoye was convicted of two counts of theft by taking (OCGA § 16-8-2), two counts of theft by deception(OCGA § 16-8-3), twocounts of exploitation ofan elder person (OCGA § 30-5-8 (2012)), one count of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) (OCGA § 16-14-4 (2012)), and three counts of money laundering (OCGA § 7-1-915).1 Akintoye appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions. Akin-toye also contends that the trial court erred in allowing improper hearsay testimony, allowing a text message exhibit to go with the jury during deliberations, and allowing a witness to testify as an expert with regard to evidence of other bad acts. Finally, Akintoye argues that his trial counsel was constitutionally deficient. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to his convictions,2 the evidence shows that Akintoye resided in Jacksonville, Florida, where he [778]*778ran an international car sales business, and he conspired with Liza-beth Crawford (“Crawford”) to scam money from the elderly.3 Crawford would receive wired money into her bank account, from Akin-toye’s victims and other sources, then withdraw and deposit a similar or slightly lesser amount into Akintoye’s bank account according to his instructions.4 Over a period of eighteen months, Crawford received approximately $200,000, which she then withdrew as cash or wired out of her account.

On several occasions, money was withdrawn from Crawford’s account and deposited into Akintoye’s account very soon thereafter. Each time Crawford transferred funds into Akintoye’s account, she retained approximately $650 to $1,500 of the original funds.

In this case, Akintoye was charged with crimes involving three victims, D. R., J. R. and J. M. With regard to these victims, the evidence pertinently showed:

D. R.

In 2012, D. R., a 74-year-old widow who lives in New York, began corresponding with someone through Match.com. This individual misled D. R. into believing that he was an American father and businessman, who was having financial difficulty in Malaysia and was trying to return to his children in New York City On February 14 and 19, 2013, D. R. was directed to wire $35,000 into Crawford’s bank account under the auspice that this man needed this money for his hotel and if he did not pay the money he would be arrested. D. R. sent two wire transfers to Crawford’s account — one for $25,000 and one for $10,000.

Crawford withdrew the first payment of $25,000 and deposited it into another account, and most of that money was then wired to Nigerian and Malaysian banks. With regard to the $10,000 payment, all but $100 was withdrawn and deposited into another of Crawford’s accounts, from which it was wired to the same foreign bank accounts.

J. M.

J. M. died about one month prior to trial; therefore, his grandson testified about the scam. The grandson testified that, on April 18, [779]*7792013, 91-year-old J. M. received a phone call at his home from a caller who identified himself as J. M.’s grandson. The caller told J. M. that he was in prison and needed J. M. to wire him money to secure his release. At trial, the grandson testified that J. M. immediately went to Wells Fargo, as instructed by the caller, and wired $6,250 to Crawford’s bank account. Later that evening, J. M. spoke to the grandson and was “very surprised” when he learned that the grandson had neither been in prison, nor spoken to him earlier that day When the embarrassed, confused, and “distraught” J. M. learned that the earlier caller was not his grandson, they promptly notified Wells Fargo seeking to stop the transfer.

That same day, Crawford went to a Cobb County Wells Fargo branch and withdrew $6,175 of the funds J. M. had wired, and Crawford then deposited $5,555 into Akintoye’s account. Akintoye then texted Crawford asking, “Have you sent the money yet?” The withdrawal and deposit slips were later found in Crawford’s possession, and the $5,555 deposit appeared in Akintoye’s bank account records.

J. R.

On April 22, 2013, 82-year-old J. R. received a phone call at her New Jersey home from a caller who identified himself as her grandson. The caller told J. R. that he had a cold and would not sound like himself, and said he was in jail and needed bail money. The caller informed J. R. that a deputy needed to speak with her. J. R. then spoke to a man who said he was the deputy, and who told her that her grandson needed $6,500 to secure his release. Based on the caller’s instructions, J. R. went to Wells Fargo and deposited $6,500 into Crawford’s account.

That same day, Crawford received a text message from Akintoye instructing her to check her Wells Fargo account for a “6 K five deposit.” Meanwhile, J. R. spoke with her actual grandson and learned that the prior phone call had been a scam, so she promptly notified Wells Fargo and the police. Wells Fargo’s video surveillance system recorded Crawford trying to withdraw J. R.’s funds from a Cobb County branch.

Following his trial, Akintoye was convicted of two counts of theft by taking, based on D. R.’s $25,000 and $10,000 transfers; two counts of theft by deception based on the $6,250 wire transfer from J. M. and the $6,500 wire transfer from J. R.; two counts of exploitation of an elder person based on the funds taken from 91-year-old J. M. and [780]*78082-year-old J. R.; one count of violating RICO; and three counts of money laundering.5 This appeal ensued.

1. Akintoye contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions. We disagree.

As an initial matter, we note that each count in Akintoye’s indictment included language stating that he committed the crimes as a co-conspirator and party to the crime.

A person who does not directly commit a crime may nevertheless be convicted as a party to that crime upon proof that he or she intentionally aided or abetted the commission of the crime, or intentionally advised, encouraged, hired, counseled, or procured another to commit the crime. All of the participants in a plan to [commit a crime] are criminally responsible for the acts of each, committed in the execution of the plan, and which may be said to be a probable consequence of the unlawful design, even though the particular act may not have actually been a part of the plan.

(Citations omitted.) Cisneros v. State, 299 Ga. 841, 846-847 (2) (792 SE2d 326) (2016). With regard to co-conspirators,

[t]he question of the existence of a conspiracy is ultimately for the jury to determine.

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Related

ROBERTS v. the STATE.
810 S.E.2d 169 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2018)
WHALEY v. the STATE.
808 S.E.2d 88 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
798 S.E.2d 720, 340 Ga. App. 777, 2017 WL 1025312, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/akintoye-v-state-gactapp-2017.