Mosteller v. Commonwealth

279 S.E.2d 380, 222 Va. 143, 1981 Va. LEXIS 284
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJune 12, 1981
DocketRecord 801223
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 279 S.E.2d 380 (Mosteller v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mosteller v. Commonwealth, 279 S.E.2d 380, 222 Va. 143, 1981 Va. LEXIS 284 (Va. 1981).

Opinion

COCHRAN, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Tried by the court, sitting without a jury, on indictments charging him with grand larceny from the Commonwealth in violation of Code § 18.2-178, 1 David Mosteller was found guilty on eight separate counts. The court sentenced him to serve a total of 14 years in the penitentiary on six counts and suspended imposition of sentence on two counts for a period of 20 years.

Mosteller was a sales representative for Inter Royal Corporation, a furniture manufacturer. The charges against him arose from a purchase of furniture by the Commonwealth for Southern Virginia Mental Health Institution in Danville and two purchases of furniture for Lynchburg Training School and Hospital in Lynchburg. A separate trial was conducted on the charges arising from each of the three purchases, referred to herein as DAN-VILLE, LYNCHBURG I and LYNCHBURG II, respectively. On appeal from each conviction, Mosteller contends that, as a matter of law, he could not properly have been found guilty of obtaining money from the Commonwealth by false pretenses in violation of Code § 18.2-178, and that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions.

1. BACKGROUND.

The record shows that Mosteller assisted State personnel at the institutional level to prepare requisitions for the purchase of furniture either manufactured by Inter Royal or of comparable design and quality. Upon approval of these requisitions, the Department of Purchases and Supply of the Commonwealth issued invitations *147 to bid to various vendors. To prepare their bids, the vendors obtained from Mosteller quotations of the manufacturer’s prices established by Inter Royal and figures for ancillary services such as the installation of the furniture and the furnishing of samples. The vendors then computed their bids by applying their profit markups to the total cost figures. Each bid, as submitted, showed the total amount of the bid and the price per unit. The unit price included the cost of ancillary services and the vendor’s profit allocated pro rata to each unit. For each purchase, the Commonwealth issued a certificate showing that it had received the furniture that the successful vendor had contracted to supply.

The Commonwealth’s theory was that Mosteller quoted to vendors cost figures that included amounts for fictitious ancillary services purportedly to be supplied by Mosteller and for which he was compensated, thereby improperly inflating the vendors’ bids to the detriment of the Commonwealth. Thus, the Commonwealth says, Mosteller obtained money from the Commonwealth by false pretenses.

2. APPLICABILITY OF CODE § 18.2-178.

Mosteller argues that, even if the evidence was sufficient to show that he did everything the Commonwealth says he did, his actions would not constitute a violation of Code § 18.2-178. As the Commonwealth received the furniture at the contract price, it got precisely what it freely and voluntarily bargained for. If it accepted in each instance what subsequent analysis revealed to be an inflated bid, the Commonwealth may have been the victim of poor judgment or inferior negotiating skill on the part of its employees, but Mosteller committed no crime in his persuasive salesmanship. Furthermore, Mosteller contends that since he was not in privity with the Commonwealth, he could not properly be convicted for any fraudulent misrepresentations that he may have made to a vendor. Moreover, he acknowledges that his actions may constitute “bid-rigging” under present Code § 59.1-68.7, not in effect at the time of these acts, but says that such manipulating of bids cannot be the basis for the larceny convictions.

We reject these arguments and hold that the Commonwealth could convict him of a violation of Code § 18.2-178 upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt that by his actions Mosteller intended to defraud the Commonwealth, that he made misrepresentations for that purpose, that he in fact did defraud the Common *148 wealth, and that the misrepresentations to some degree induced the Commonwealth to pay money that it would not have paid absent the false pretenses. See Riegert v. Commonwealth, 218 Va. 511, 518, 237 S.E.2d 803, 807 (1977); Bourgeois v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 268, 272, 227 S.E.2d 714, 717 (1976).

The victim of the fraudulent scheme need not be the person to whom the false pretense or misrepresentation is made. See Bolet v. United States, 417 A.2d 386, 393 (D.C. App. 1980); State v. McDonald, 534 S.W.2d 650, 652-53 (Tenn.), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 955, reh. denied, 425 U.S. 1000 (1976); People v. Gould, 246 N.Y.S.2d 758, 765 (1964); Commonwealth v. Kiernan, 201 N.E. 2d 504, 515 (Mass. 1964), cert. denied sub nom., Gordon v. Massachusetts, 380 U.S. 913 (1965); Commonwealth v. Johnson, 181 S.W. 368, 369-370 (Ky. 1916).

It is true, as Mosteller asserts, that the General Assembly has recently enacted two statutes that deal specifically with misrepresentations in commercial transactions with the Commonwealth (Code §§ 18.2-498.1, et seq., Acts 1980, c. 472) and with conspiracies or combinations to “rig” or manipulate bids for sales to the Commonwealth (Code §§ 59.1-68.6, et seq., Acts 1980, c. 471). Nevertheless, the enactment of these statutes does not preclude the Commonwealth from obtaining a conviction under § 18.2-178 if it adduces sufficient evidence. Accordingly, we turn our attention to the evidence to determine whether, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, it is sufficient to support Mosteller’s several convictions.

3. DANVILLE.

In one indictment, Mosteller was charged in three separate counts with grand larceny from the Commonwealth and its agency, Southern Virginia Mental Health Institution, located in Danville. The charges related to alleged misrepresentations in the sale of furniture to the Danville institution as to hardware, installation services, and samples. The trial court convicted Mosteller as *149 charged and sentenced him to serve two years in the penitentiary on each of the three counts.

(a) Tamper-proof hardware 2 charges.

The requisition forwarded by the Danville facility to the Department of Purchases and Supply specified that the furniture was “to be constructed with tamper proof hardware.” The same requirement was included in the form of bid sent to prospective bidders. M. S. Ginn Company, trading as Ginns Southern, was the successful bidder.

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279 S.E.2d 380, 222 Va. 143, 1981 Va. LEXIS 284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mosteller-v-commonwealth-va-1981.