State v. Papandrea

991 A.2d 617, 120 Conn. App. 224, 2010 Conn. App. LEXIS 112
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedMarch 30, 2010
DocketAC 29768
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 991 A.2d 617 (State v. Papandrea) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Papandrea, 991 A.2d 617, 120 Conn. App. 224, 2010 Conn. App. LEXIS 112 (Colo. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

Opinion

DUPONT, J.

The defendant, John Papandrea, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of nine counts of larceny in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-122 (a) (2).1 On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to support his conviction, (2) the court’s jury instruction to use the information as a “road map” deprived him of the right to have the state prove each element of the offenses charged beyond a reasonable doubt2 and (3) he was deprived of his right to due process as a result of prosecutorial impropriety. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The state claimed that the defendant, a corporate financial officer, an accountant and employee of Homecare Management Strategies, Inc. (Homecare), took corporate funds for personal use in order to purchase artwork for himself, without right, authority or permission. The defendant did not contest many of the basic facts introduced by the state but asserted, as his defense, that he lacked the requisite wrongful intent for conviction of larceny in the first degree.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. Donna Gailuzzo owns and operates Homecare. [227]*227Homecare provides financial services to home health care agencies, including accounting, billing and collection. In 1991, the defendant began to work as an accountant for Omni Home Health Services (Omni), a company owned by Galluzzo. In 1996, the defendant began to work for Homecare as a junior accountant. Many of Homecare’s employees, including the defendant, performed services for White Oak Systems, LLC (White Oak). White Oak is a software development company. White Oak built a software system for Omni and also provided “information systems” to Homecare. The offices for White Oak and Homecare were located in the same building and on the same floor.

In 1999, Masonicare, a health care provider, bought Omni and entered into a contract with Homecare for financial support services. Under the terms of the contract, Masonicare paid Homecare a prescribed fee, a portion of which Homecare was obligated to pay to White Oak for software development. At about the same time that the contract was executed, Carl Caslowitz, the original owner of White Oak, transferred 85 percent of White Oak stock to the defendant, at the request of Gianfranco Galluzzo, Donna Galluzzo’s husband. The stock was transferred to the defendant without any consideration for the purpose of “corporate convenience.”3 At the time, Homecare and White Oak had an oral agreement that provided that Homecare pay White Oak’s salary obligations and its direct cost of doing business. White Oak reimbursed Homecare for those costs and for services provided by Homecare employees to White Oak. Pursuant to the oral agreement, the financial obligations imposed on the two companies were tracked using “due to/due from” accounting measures.

[228]*228In 2002, Homecare had two in-house finance employees, the defendant and Cynthia O’Sullivan. In September, 2003, O’Sullivan left the employ of Homecare, at which time the defendant was Homecare’s sole authorized check signatory. In early 2004, with the end of the Masonicare contract approaching, Donna Galluzzo requested that the defendant provide Homecare’s full financial record in order to review the financial status of the company. The defendant was not forthcoming with the financial records. At the end of 2004, the defendant informed Donna Galluzzo that a meeting was necessary to settle the “due to/due from” arrangement between Homecare and White Oak. On March 30, 2005, the defendant, without consideration, transferred his 85 percent of White Oak’s stock back to Caslowitz. On April 1, 2005, the defendant met with Donna Galluzzo, Gianfranco Galluzzo and Caslowitz. Gianfranco Gal-luzzo requested the “due to/due from” information, which the defendant refused to provide. The defendant informed Donna Galluzzo and Gianfranco Galluzzo that he had transferred his stock in White Oak back to Cas-lowitz, which caused Gianfranco Galluzzo to become visibly angry. The defendant’s employment with Homecare was then terminated.

Homecare hired Mahoney Sabol & Company, LLP, to conduct an audit of Homecare’s finances. The audit revealed that the defendant had issued a number of checks, drawn on Homecare’s accounts payable, to various art dealers. The checks had been issued between February 25, 2004, and February 11, 2005. Donna Gal-luzzo previously did not know that the defendant was purchasing artwork for his personal use with Homecare funds. The defendant never requested permission to purchase the artwork, nor was he authorized by Homec-are to make such purchases. Although the defendant claimed that Homecare owed him money, he never filed a claim to collect the moneys that Homecare allegedly [229]*229owed to him and never requested that moneys that had not been transferred already be transferred from Homecare to White Oak. The defendant admitted that he had issued the Homecare checks in question and that he had purchased the artwork for his personal use. His defense at trial was that Homecare owed him money as White Oak’s principal shareholder at the time he had issued the checks.

Following a juiy trial, the defendant was convicted of nine counts of larceny in the first degree. The court sentenced the defendant to a total effective term of twelve years incarceration, suspended after six years, and five years of probation. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

The defendant’s first claim is that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to support his conviction of larceny in the first degree. Specifically, he argues that the state presented insufficient evidence on the element of intent. We disagree.

To resolve the defendant’s claim, we begin by setting forth the relevant legal principles and the standard of review. “In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction we apply a two-part test. First, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. Second, we determine whether upon the facts so construed and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom the [finder of fact] reasonably could have concluded that the cumulative force of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Saez, 115 Conn. App. 295, 300-301, 972 A.2d 277, cert. denied, 293 Conn. 909, 978 A.2d 1113 (2009).

General Statutes § 53a-119 provides in relevant part: “A person commits larceny when, with intent to deprive [230]*230another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner. . . .” Section 53a-122 (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of larceny in the first degree when he commits larceny, as defined in section 53a-119, and ... (2) the value of the property or service exceeds ten thousand dollars .. . .”

The defendant does not contest that he appropriated thé moneys at issue for his personal benefit. The issue is whether the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt the element of intent to deprive another of property.

“It is well settled . . . that the question of intent is purely a question of fact. . . .

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State v. Papandrea
991 A.2d 617 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
991 A.2d 617, 120 Conn. App. 224, 2010 Conn. App. LEXIS 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-papandrea-connappct-2010.