State v. Montoya

861 P.2d 978, 116 N.M. 297
New Mexico Court of Appeals·Decided August 6, 1993·No. 13855·Published·Cited by 25 cases

Opinion

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

Defendant appeals his convictions of six counts of fourth degree felony fraud over $250, eleven counts of third degree felony fraud over $2500, one count of fourth degree felony destruction of documents, and two counts of second degree felony racketeering. Defendant, the former manager of the Guadalupe Credit Union (GCU), was convicted based on his participation in a scheme which defrauded GCU’s members by making inflated car loans to members who had recently been turned down for other loans and accepting the excess cash from such inflated loans.

Defendant raises five issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence because the warrantless search was impermissible, (2) whether the trial court erred in denying his motion for a continuance and his motion for a new trial based on a discovery violation, (3) whether the trial court erred in submitting fraud over $250 as a lesser included offense of fraud over $2500, (4) whether Defendant was sentenced in violation of his double jeopardy rights, and (5) whether it was error to require Defendant to make restitution as a condition of release pending appeal. We affirm the trial court on issues one, two, three, and the unit of prosecution part of issue four. We reverse the double description part of issue four and remand for resentencing, and we also reverse the trial court on issue five.

SEARCH

GCU is regulated by the state Financial Institutions Division (FID) under the Credit Union Regulatory Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 58-11-1 to -65 (Repl.Pamp.1991). In addition, since credit union deposits are insured by the federal government, GCU is also regulated by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) under 12 U.S.C. Section 1751 (1988). In January 1991, FID sent a supervisory examiner, Robert Mannel, to conduct a regular examination of GCU. The last independent audit of GCU indicated that several loans had been inappropriately approved, and Mannel was not satisfied with Defendant’s explanations. Mannel extended the scope of the examination because of these improprieties and called in a NCUA examiner to assist him. The FID/ NCUA joint-examination lasted four weeks. Based on the results of Mannel’s examination, the director of FID, Ken Carson, decided to impose a conservatorship on GCU. Prior to the imposition of the conservator-ship, Carson met with Fred Smith, Director of Prosecutions for the Attorney General, to discuss the conservatorship and possible criminal activity.

The conservatorship was imposed on March 13, 1991, at which time Defendant was served with the conservatorship order. The conservatorship order appointed Carson as conservator and entitled him “to immediately take possession and control of the business and assets of the Credit Union to preserve the assets ... and to protect the interests of the members of the Credit Union.” In addition, the terms of the order required that GCU’s board of directors, officers, employees, and agents “immediately turn over all books, records, accounts, documents, assets and property, both real and personal, of every description of the Credit Union to the Director and his authorized representatives.” The imposition of the conservatorship (the takeover) involved the joint participation of FID, NCUA, and the Attorney General’s Office. At least four members of the Attorney General’s Office were present, including a financial investigator and two armed special agents. In addition, five members of FID, including Director Carson and Deputy Director Fred Gallegos, and at least three NCUA examiners, including Supervising Examiner Eleanor Taylor, were also present. Assistant Attorney General Smith testified that the Attorney General’s agents and armed security personnel accompanied the FID for the purpose of providing security, but not for the purpose of effecting a search and seizure. No criminal referral regarding GCU was made to the Attorney General’s Office until April 8, 1991.

During the takeover, Defendant’s briefcase and a cardboard box were searched. This search was conducted without an administrative or criminal search warrant. Among the items searched and confiscated was a manila envelope (the checkerboard evidence), which is the evidence Defendant contends should be suppressed. The checkerboard exhibit is a 9V2 X 11-inch manila envelope that has a hand-drawn grid on the outside of the envelope. The grid itself is filled in with information relating to a number of illegal GCU loans. The inside of the envelope contains lists of the illegal loans, GCU receipts, and security agreements clearly marked “Guadalupe Credit Union.”

Certain facts pertaining to this search are disputed by the parties. Defendant contends that NCUA Examiner Taylor told him to collect his personal belongings and leave; that Taylor demanded to search Defendant’s closed briefcase, into which he had not put any papers or folders from his desk; and that FID Deputy Director Gallegos was not in Defendant’s office during the search. In addition, Defendant contends that Gallegos testified that the checkerboard envelope was found in Defendant’s briefcase.

Gallegos testified that Defendant had an open briefcase into which Defendant put items from his office and that Gallegos gave Defendant a computer-paper box into which Defendant also put materials. Gallegos testified that he asked to search both the open box and the open briefcase and then conducted a cursory review of both containers. A review of the transcript shows that Gallegos specifically testified at two separate intervals that the checkerboard evidence was retrieved from the box, not the briefcase. No contrary reference by Gallegos is apparent at the portion of the record referred to by Defendant. Gallegos further testified that his reason for extracting the manila envelope from Defendant’s personal belongings was that Gallegos suspected that the manila envelope related to GCU business, due to the obvious appearance of the checkerboard grid. The details that Gallegos observed on the outside of the envelope and which triggered his suspicions were the list of names other than Montoya’s or Montoya’s wife’s and various account numbers, payment dates, and payment amounts. In addition, Taylor testified that she neither searched Defendant, nor did she observe him being searched, nor did she order him to be searched.

Defendant contends that the warrantless search was impermissible under both the United States Constitution and the New Mexico Constitution. However, Defendant failed to discuss or argue that any different protection is offered to the case at hand by the New Mexico Constitution. As set forth in State v. Sutton, 112 N.M. 449, 454, 816 P.2d 518, 523 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 112 N.M. 308, 815 P.2d 161 (1991), “References to the state constitution, without some discussion or argument concerning the scope of its protections, are not enough to alert the trial court to the issue of a possible difference between the rights afforded by the state constitution and those provided by the fourth amendment.” See also State v. Casteneda, 97 N.M. 670, 674, 642 P.2d 1129, 1133 (Ct.App.1982) (objecting party must advise court specifically of the ground of objection so that the court may rule intelligently).

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State v. Montoya, 861 P.2d 978, 116 N.M. 297 (N.M. Ct. App. 1993).

861 P.2d 978 (State v. Montoya) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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