San Fernando Court, LASD Arrest for VC 10851, No File
Our client, age 27, wanted to get a car to replace his old beat up Toyota Camry that was over 25 years old. He wanted a truck instead.
He looked online on various websites and found a person offering to sell a Dodge Dakota pickup from 1997 for $1,500. The price was under the Kelly Blue Book for the make, model and year so he called up the seller and told him he was interested, but he wanted to see the truck in person. The seller told him to bring cash.
Our client lived in Santa Clarita and the seller was in Buena Park. Our client drove down to the seller’s house with his mom there to drive back the Toyota Camry if he bought the truck.
Our client met with the seller and the truck seemed great. He test drove it with the seller and it drove fine. Our client then handed over the $1,500 and the seller signed the pink slip over to our client.
Our client happily then drove the car back to Santa Clarita, with his mom driving behind in the Toyota Camry.
Less than two weeks later, in July 2023, our client was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Clarita office, on suspicion of grand theft auto.
Our client explained that he had purchased the car and showed the officers the pink slip. Our client explained that he paid for the car. He did not steal it.
Nonetheless, our client was held in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Station, Santa Clarita, for approximately 48 hours while the officers contacted the true owner of the truck and advised him that they had the vehicle. Our client was eventually released after he signed a promise to appear in the San Fernando Courthouse in about one month. He was advised that he was arrested for grand theft auto, but the ticket stated he was arrested for violation of Vehicle Code § 10851.
The client’s mom in particular and the client were devastated. The client had no prior criminal history. He had a steady job.
Greg had represented the client’s sister in an earlier criminal matter, so they called Greg Hill.
Greg listened to the client explain what had happened and the mom added her comments in a three-way call. Greg asked the client if he checked the seller’s identification to confirm he was the same person on the pink slip. The client said no. The mom said no.
Greg then explained that the client had bought a stolen car and that the seller was not the true owner of the car. Greg explained that he had seen this happen before in a prior case, many years earlier.
Greg then wrote the San Fernando District Attorney’s Office, demanding that the District Attorney’s Office look deeper at the case facts before filing. Greg explained that if they did so, they would recognize that our client was a gullible, but nonetheless bona fide purchaser of the car. Unbeknownst to him, the car was not sold to him by the true owner.
The letter explained that our client purchased the car with his mom accompanying him to the purchase transaction at the seller’s home.
When the client bought the car, he never thought to ask the seller to show him his identification to confirm he was the registered owner. In the excitement of buying the car, he just never imagined that a person who had the pink slip would not be the true owner of the car.
Greg explained that therefore our client had no “mens rea” consistent with a criminal intent to obtain the car unlawfully. After all, what kind of person, except a person with a criminal history, brings their mom along to steal a car? If our client wanted to steal the car, he would not pay $1,500 for it first!
Greg faxed the letter to the San Fernando District Attorney’s Office, who responded by advising that the case was a DA Reject for insufficient evidence. The client and his mom were very happy, although our client was probably never going to see the $1,500 back and would continue driving the Toyota Camry.
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