Peo v. Itive K

Colorado Court of Appeals·Decided October 2, 2025·No. 22CA2256·Unpublished

Opinion

22CA2256 Peo v Itive 10-02-2025 COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS

Court of Appeals No. 22CA2256 El Paso County District Court No. 18CR6852 Honorable Robin Chittum, Judge

The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kelly Itive, Defendant-Appellant.

JUDGMENT AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART, AND CASE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS

Division V

Opinion by JUDGE FREYRE

Pawar and Yun, JJ., concur

NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e)

Announced October 02, 2025

Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Jessica E. Ross, Senior Assistant Attorney General and Assistant Solicitor General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee

Megan A. Ring, Colorado State Public Defender, Kira L. Suyeishi, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant

¶1 Defendant, Kelly Itive, appeals his theft and criminal impersonation convictions. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with directions.

I. Background

¶2 Beginning in early 2017, Deborah Davis began a romantic relationship online with a foreign man she believed to be named David Keith. Over the course of eleven months, Davis and Keith were in constant contact through phone calls, emails, and texts, but they never met in person. Davis believed she and Keith were in love and would spend the rest of their lives together.

¶3 During their virtual relationship, Keith asked Davis to send him money. She did so through wire transfers, money sharing services, and gift cards. Davis deposited the wire transfers into an account belonging to Itive, whom she believed to be Keith’s uncle. During their relationship, Davis sent Keith approximately $48,000- $72,000. Their relationship ended in 2018.

¶4 Davis went to the police after discovering that the picture Keith had given her was of a person who did not exist. Davis provided the officers with two names connected to her lost money:

David Cody Keith and Kelly Itive. Following an investigation, the police arrested Itive.

¶5 After Itive’s arrest, officers played Davis a series of Itive’s jail phone calls. Davis recognized Keith’s voice in some, but not all, of the recorded phone calls.

¶6 At trial, Itive testified that he had never spoken with Davis in any capacity. He said his cousin had introduced him to Peter Godson, who was building an orphanage in Nigeria. Itive believed that Davis was the sister of one of Godson’s associates. He also believed that Davis was transferring money to him to support the orphanage. According to Itive, Godson asked Davis to send Itive money in U.S. currency, and Godson would withdraw an equivalent amount from Itive’ s Nigerian bank account to avoid “los[ing] money [due] to the exchange rate.” Itive testified that Godson eventually stopped depositing money into his U.S. bank account but continued taking money from his Nigerian bank account. Itive believed that he and Davis were both victims of a scam perpetrated by Godson.

¶7 A jury convicted Itive of theft under section 18-4-401(1) and (2)(h), C.R.S. 2025, along with criminal impersonation under section 18-5-113(1)(b)(II), C.R.S. 2025. Itive challenges his

convictions on three grounds: (1) insufficient evidence supports his theft conviction as a class 4 felony; (2) the trial court erred in admitting evidence from his Facebook profile; and (3) the prosecutor committed misconduct. He further contends that the cumulative effect of these errors requires reversal. We address each contention below.

II. Theft

¶8 Itive contends that the trial court erroneously allowed the prosecution to constructively amend the complaint and information by aggregating multiple thefts into a single charge under section 18- 4-401(1)(a). We agree and reverse in part.

A. Additional Facts

¶9 The prosecution charged Itive as follows:

Between and including March 1, 2017 and February 9, 2018, Kelly Itive unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly, without authorization or by threat or deception, obtained, retained, or exercised control over; or knowing or believing it to have been stolen, received, loaned money by pawn or pledge on, or disposed of, a thing of value, namely:

money, of Deborah Davis, with the value of twenty thousand dollars or more but less than one hundred thousand dollars, and intended to deprive Deborah Davis permanently of its

use or benefit; in violation of section 18-4-

401(1)(a),(2)(h) . . . .

¶ 10 At trial, the prosecution introduced evidence of numerous transfers of monies from Davis to Itive and of numerous communications between Davis and Keith. As relevant here, the largest single transfer of money was for $12,000. Consistent with the complaint and information, the court instructed the jury as follows:

The elements of the crime of theft are:

1. That the defendant,

2. in the State of Colorado, at or about the date and place charged,

3. knowingly,

4. received, loaned money by pawn or pledge on, or disposed of,

5. anything of value belonging to another that he knew or believed to have been stolen, and

6. intended to deprive the other person permanently of the use or benefit of the thing of value . . . .

¶ 11 Relatedly, section 18-4-401(4)(b) allows multiple thefts against the same person to be charged in a single count, with the value of the stolen items aggregated. The prosecution did not charge Itive

under this subsection, nor did the court provide the jury with a corresponding instruction.

¶ 12 The jury convicted Itive of theft, finding that the value of “the thing involved in the theft” was between $20,000 and $100,000. Following the jury’s verdict, the trial court entered a class 4 felony theft conviction based on the total amount of money Itive received from Davis.

B. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

¶ 13 In assessing the sufficiency of the evidence, we review the record de novo to determine whether the evidence was “sufficient in both quantity and quality” to sustain a conviction. McCoy v. People, 2019 CO 44, ¶ 63. In doing so, we view the evidence as a whole and in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine if the evidence is “substantial and sufficient to support a conclusion by a reasonable mind that the defendant is guilty of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.” McDonald v. People, 2021 CO 64, ¶ 64 (quoting People v. Harrison, 2020 CO 57, ¶ 32). In applying this test, we give the prosecution the benefit of every reasonable inference that can be drawn from the evidence. Id.

¶ 14 As relevant in this case, a person commits theft “when he or she knowingly obtains, retains, or exercises control over anything of value of another without authorization” and “[i]ntends to deprive the other person permanently of the use or benefit of the thing of value.” § 18-4-401(1)(a).

¶ 15 When a person commits multiple thefts against the same person “pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, the thefts may be aggregated and charged in a single count, in which event they shall constitute a single offense, the penalty for which shall be based on the aggregate value of the things involved.” § 18-4- 401(4)(b).

¶ 16 We also review de novo whether a constructive amendment or a simple variance occurred. See People v. Carter, 2021 COA 29,

¶ 35. A constructive amendment occurs when a jury instruction “changes an essential element of the charged offense and thereby alters the substance of the charging instrument.” People v. Rediger, 2018 CO 32, ¶ 48 (quoting People v. Rodriguez, 914 P.2d 230, 257 (Colo. 1996)). Itive did not preserve this claim, as his counsel did not alert the trial court to any alleged amendment between the charging document and the prosecution’s aggregation of his thefts.

Therefore, even if a simple variance occurred, we will not reverse unless the error is plain. See Bock v. People, 2024 CO 61, ¶ 23. “An error is plain only if it is obvious, substantial, and so undermined the trial’s fundamental fairness as to cast doubts on the reliability of the conviction.” Id. at ¶ 24.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Peo v. Itive K, (Colo. Ct. App. 2025).

Peo v. Itive K (Peo v. Itive K) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

People v. Banks
983 P.2d 102 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1999)
People v. Sallis
857 P.2d 572 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1993)
People v. Rodriguez
914 P.2d 230 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1996)
People v. Marion
941 P.2d 287 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1996)
People v. Avila
944 P.2d 673 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1997)
People v. Lucero
615 P.2d 660 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1980)
People v. Villa
240 P.3d 343 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2009)
Wend v. People
235 P.3d 1089 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2010)
People v. Strock
252 P.3d 1148 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2010)
People v. Robinson
226 P.3d 1145 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2009)
People v. Liggett
114 P.3d 85 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2005)
People v. Kraemer
795 P.2d 1371 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1990)
People v. Greenlee
200 P.3d 363 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2009)
Domingo-Gomez v. People
125 P.3d 1043 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2005)
Vista Resorts, Inc. v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
117 P.3d 60 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2004)
Liggett v. People
135 P.3d 725 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2006)
People v. Marks
2015 COA 173 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2015)
Lewis v. Taylor
2016 CO 48 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2016)
In re Estate of Owens
2017 COA 53 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)
Pineda-Liberato v. People
2017 CO 95 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2017)