State v. Garceau

370 N.W.2d 34, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4264
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJune 18, 1985
DocketCX-84-1455
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 370 N.W.2d 34 (State v. Garceau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Garceau, 370 N.W.2d 34, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4264 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

WOZNIAK, Presiding Judge.

Following a jury trial in Pennington County District Court, Irene Garceau was convicted of two counts of theft by swindle under Minn.Stat. § 609.52, subds. 2 and 3 (1982 & Supp.1983), two counts of embezzlement of public funds under Minn.Stat. § 609.54, subd. 1 (1982), and one count of aggravated forgery under Minn.Stat. § 609.625, subd. 1(b) (1982). On appeal, Garceau contends that the evidence was insufficient to support those convictions and that the prosecutor improperly impeached a defense witness. We affirm.

FACTS

The incidents leading to appellant Irene Garceau’s convictions took place in the Hubbard County Clerk of Court’s office in Park Rapids between June 1982 and January 1983. During this period, Darrel Cas-mey was the clerk of the Hubbard County District Court. Garceau, LuAnn Bolton and Margaret Torkelson were deputy clerks of court. Each deputy clerk had different areas for which she was responsible. Garceau was primarily responsible for district court matters; Bolton was responsible for county court matters; Torkel-son was responsible for probate and conciliation court matters. Each of the deputy clerks was responsible for a checking account for her particular court division.

Following a routine audit in 1983 of the Hubbard County Clerk of Court’s office, the Minnesota State Auditor’s Office discovered that $2,819.25 was missing from the Clerk of Court’s funds for the calendar year 1982. The auditors were able to attribute the shortage to five deposits that were never deposited in the clerk of court’s account at the Citizens National Bank in Park Rapids. These deposits consisted of cash and checks. The five deposits involved are as follows:

Date of Deposit Total Deposit
6/11/82 $ 244.00
8/18/82 684.25
12/10/82 500.00
12/17/82 294.00
12/22/82 1,097.00
Total: $2,819.25

In addition to these missing deposits, the auditors discovered that two deposits prepared in 1982 were not received by Citizens Bank until January 14, 1983:

Date of Date Deposit Actually Total Slip Deposited Deposit
9/17/82 1/14/83 $1,140.00
12/7/82 1/14/83 1,334,00
Total: $2,474.00

The clerk of court and each of the deputy clerks of court testified concerning the accounting procedures used in the clerk’s office. Both Torkelson and Bolton had vinyl bags containing a book of deposit slips with carbon copiés and a deposit ledger. Gar-ceau had a tin box with the same contents. When Garceau made a deposit at the bank, however, she used a vinyl bag. When the deputies received funds from the public, they would issue the payor a receipt, accumulate the funds, and prepare a deposit slip to deposit the funds in their particular account at the Citizens Bank. The deputies made deposits whenever it was necessary.

When the deputies took a deposit to the bank, they would give the bank teller the vinyl bag with the deposit. The teller would then verify that the amount of cash and cheeks received matched the amount indicated on the deposit slip, credit the appropriate account, initial the deposit slip, retain the original of the deposit slip, and enter the deposit in the ledger. When the teller was finished, the teller would return to the deputy the deposit slip book containing the carbon copy of the deposit ticket, the deposit ledger and the vinyl bag. Each deputy was responsible for reconciling her account with the monthly bank statement.

*36 Each of the deputies testified that only occasionally would one of them take a deposit to the bank for one of the other deputies’ accounts. The deputies also testified that Casmey would rarely take deposits to the bank for the deputies.

Garceau prepared the deposit slips for all five of the missing deposits and for both of the 1982 deposits that were not received by Citizens Bank until January 14, 1983. All of the deposits in question, except for the December 22, 1982 deposit, were deposits for the district court account, the account controlled by Garceau. The December 22, 1982 deposit was a deposit for the county court account, the account controlled by Bolton. Garceau testified that she prepared that deposit slip for Bolton because Bolton was on vacation. The original white copies of the deposit slips for all five of the missing deposits have never been found.

The carbon copies of the deposit slips for the June 11, 1982 and August 18, 1982 deposits bear the bank teller initials “J. Z.” Both of these deposits were entered in the deposit ledger, and the teller initials “J.Z.” accompany those two entries. Neither the June 11, 1982 nor the August 18, 1982 deposits were ever received by Citizens Bank.

The carbon copy of the deposit slip for the missing December 10, 1982 deposit bears the faint teller initial “L” in the lower left corner. In addition to preparing the missing December 10, 1982 deposit, Garceau also prepared a deposit on December 10, 1982 for a large check that the clerk’s office had received from the State of Minnesota. This deposit was received by the bank on December 10, 1982 and the deposit slip for this deposit bears a dark “L” teller initial. There is an entry in the ledger for this deposit of the State of Minnesota check, but there is not an entry for the other December 10, 1982 deposit. The carbon copy of the deposit slip for the State of Minnesota check was immediately above the carbon copy of the deposit slip for the missing December 10, 1982 deposit in Gar-ceau’s deposit slip book. The dark teller initial “L” on the deposit slip for the State of Minnesota check is in exactly the same location as the faint initial “L” which appears on the deposit slip for the missing December 10, 1982 deposit.

The next missing deposit is evidenced by a deposit slip dated December 17, 1982. Garceau admitted preparing this deposit slip. This deposit was never received by Citizens Bank, the deposit slip bore no teller initial, and the deposit was not entered in the ledger book.

Garceau also prepared the deposit slip for the missing December 22, 1982 deposit. This deposit should have been made into the county court account controlled by Bolton. Garceau prepared the deposit slip because Bolton was on vacation. The carbon copy of the deposit slip bears the initials “J.Z.” There is no corresponding entry in the ledger.

Torkelson testified that, on December 22, 1982, Garceau told her that she was taking Bolton’s deposit to the bank. Bolton testified that after she returned from vacation, Garceau told her that she had taken the December 22, 1982 deposit to the bank and that the teller Jody Zieman had neglected to enter the deposit in Bolton’s ledger.

The last two deposits which were the basis for Garceau’s convictions were made on January 14, 1983. Garceau prepared two deposit slips for deposits in 1982. The bank’s records and the bank’s stamp on the back of the original white copy of the deposit slips show that these two deposits were not deposited until January 14, 1983. The carbon copy of the deposit slip for one of the two deposits bears the date of September 17, 1982.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
370 N.W.2d 34, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-garceau-minnctapp-1985.