James E. Lofland v. United States

357 F.2d 472
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 6, 1966
Docket20263_1
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 357 F.2d 472 (James E. Lofland v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James E. Lofland v. United States, 357 F.2d 472 (9th Cir. 1966).

Opinion

JERTBERG, Circuit Judge:

Appellant appeals from a judgment of conviction on four counts of an indictment. Count One charged a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. 1 Count Two charged a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2315. 2 Count Three charged appellant and one Frederick George Koeneke with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2315, and Count Four charged appellant and Frederick George Koeneke and Dale O’Harley Jennings with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2315.

Trial was to the court sitting without a jury, a jury trial having been expressly waived, in writing, and in open court by the appellant. Appellant was represented by counsel of his own choosing at the arraignment, trial and imposition of sentence. Following the District Court’s denial of appellant’s motion for new trial, appellant was committed to the custody of the Attorney General for a period of ten years on each of the four counts, each sentence to begin and run concurrently with each other and concurrently with any other sentence defendant was then serving.

Co-defendants Koeneke and Jennings, named in Counts Three, Four and Five were found not guilty.

We shall first consider Counts One and Two in which appellant alone was charged.

*474 Count One of the indictment charged:

“COUNT ONE [18 U.S.C. § 1343]
“Beginning on or about May 28, 1964 and continuing to on or about June 4, 1964, the defendant JAMES ELDON LOFLAND devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud the Crocker-Citizens National Bank, Van Nuys, California Branch and to obtain money from said bank by false pretenses, that is, by the pledging of stolen stock certificates in order to obtain a $35,000.00 loan from said bank.
“In carrying out his scheme the defendant made the following false and fraudulent representations well knowing at the time that the representations and promises were false:
“1. That the defendant was authorized to pledge the stock by the owner of the stock, Elizabeth Pandolfi.
“2. That the telegram he presented the said bank on May 29, 1964 to substantiate his claim of authorization from Elizabeth Pandolfi was from Elizabeth Pondolfi. ■
“3. That the letter he presented the bank on June 3, 1964 to further support his claim of authorization was signed by Elizabeth Pandolfi and bore the signature guarantee of the Chase Manhattan Bank in the name John Brent.
“On or about May 28, 1964, the defendant JAMES E. LOFLAND for the purpose of executing the aforesaid scheme and artifice, caused to be transmitted by means of interstate wire, a telegram from New York City, New York to Beverly Hills, California, Los Angeles County, within the Central Division of the Southern District of California.”

Count Two of the indictment charged:

“COUNT TWO [18 U.S.C. § 2315]
“On or about May 29, 1964, the defendant JAMES ELDON LOFLAND, received and disposed of 355 shares of American Telephone and Telegraph Common Stock and 100 shares of Ken-necott Copper Corporation Common Stock, of a value of more than $5,000.00 which securities were moving as, and constituted a part of interstate commerce from Sharon, Pennsylvania to Los Angeles County, California, within the Central Division of the Southern District of California; and said securities theretofore had been stolen and unlawfully converted as the defendant then and there well knew.”

At the beginning of the trial the parties, in writing, including their respective counsel, signed a stipulation which, insofar as it relates to Counts One and Two, reads as follows:

“3. That on March 12, 1964, a burglary was committed at the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Pandolfi, 1546 West-erman Road, Sharon, Pennsylvania, at which time a safe containing the following stock certificates registered in her name was stolen:
[Certificate No. Shares]
American Telephone and Telegraph Company BN017462 344
Kennecott Copper Corporation N54599 100
ft ft ft N54598 100”
“5. That none of the signatures appearing on the back of any of the certificates listed in Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 above are genuine.
“6. That exhibits 1, 2, 20, and 36 through 60 are genuine stock certificates and are among those described in paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 above.”

*475 The testimony relating to these two counts may be summarized as follows:-

On May 29, 1964, appellant was introduced to Mr. A. L. Clark, of the Panorama City branch of Crocker-Citizens National Bank, Van Nuys, California. Appellant asked for a loan of $35,000, purportedly for a down payment on a new home, and offered as collateral two stock certificates. These certificates were respectively for 344 shares of American Telephone and Telegraph, Certificate No. BNO17462, and for 200 shares of Kenne-cott Copper Corporation, Certificate No. N54599 and N54598, and were issued in the name of Elizabeth Rose Pandolfi. A signature, apparently written by Mrs. Pandolfi, appeared on the back of the certificates with a guarantee stamp and officer’s signature apparently from Chase Manhattan Bank. It was stipulated in writing by the parties that these certificates had in fact been stolen from Mrs. Pandolfi’s residence in Sharon, Pennsylvania. The approximate market value of the shares represented by the certificates was $55,738 at that time.

When Clark told appellant that the bank could not advance the full amount requested because the stocks were not in appellant’s name, appellant produced a telegram which appeared to be from Mrs. Pandolfi giving him complete authority to pledge her stock for a loan. This was not completely satisfactory to Clark and he requested that appellant obtain Mrs. Pandolfi’s signature on an Authority to Pledge form. Appellant stated that he would be flying to New York immediately and would have the Authority signed by Mrs. Pandolfi and return it to Clark.

Anticipating execution and delivery of the Authority to Pledge, Clark advanced $10,000 to appellant’s checking account on behalf of the bank, for which appellant executed a promissory note and for which certain supporting documents were made out in the bank’s normal course of business.

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Bluebook (online)
357 F.2d 472, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-e-lofland-v-united-states-ca9-1966.