Obtaining Property By False Pretenses Defense In North Carolina

Obtaining property by false pretenses is usually a class H felony, but it can be as serious as a Class C felony if the fraud is worth $100,000 or more. This charge is fairly common when people sell or pawn an item that they know they don’t have the right to sell.

There are several defenses to this charge, so it is important to have an experienced Greensboro lawyer counseling you on your case. Scroll further down to see some potential defenses that are common in these cases. These instructions are what the jury will see if you are on trial for a case like this. We have also provided part of the statute that covers possession of a firearm by a convicted felon here:

“(a) If any person shall knowingly and designedly by means of any kind of false pretense whatsoever, whether the false pretense is of a past or subsisting fact or of a future fulfillment or event, obtain or attempt to obtain from any person within this State any money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value with intent to cheat or defraud any person of such money, goods, property, services, chose in action or other thing of value, such person shall be guilty of a felony: Provided, that if, on the trial of anyone indicted for such crime, it shall be proved that he obtained the property in such manner as to amount to larceny or embezzlement, the jury shall have submitted to them such other felony proved; and no person tried for such felony shall be liable to be afterwards prosecuted for larceny or embezzlement upon the same facts: Provided, further, that it shall be sufficient in any indictment for obtaining or attempting to obtain any such money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value by false pretenses to allege that the party accused did the act with intent to defraud, without alleging an intent to defraud any particular person, and without alleging any ownership of the money, goods, property, services, chose in action or other thing of value; and upon the trial of any such indictment, it shall not be necessary to prove either an intent to defraud any particular person or that the person to whom the false pretense was made was the person defrauded, but it shall be sufficient to allege and prove that the party accused made the false pretense charged with an intent to defraud. If the value of the money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value is $100,000 or more, a violation of this section is a Class C felony. If the value of the money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value is less than $100,000, a violation of this section is a Class H felony.

(b) Evidence of nonfulfillment of a contract obligation standing alone shall not establish the essential element of intent to defraud.

Common Defenses To Obtaining Property By False Pretenses

The elements of obtaining property by false pretenses are:

• First, that the defendant made a representation to another.
• Second, that this representation was false.
• Third, that this representation was calculated and intended to deceive.
• Fourth, that the victim was in fact deceived by this representation.
• Fifth, that the defendant thereby obtained or attempted to obtain property from the victim.

Each one of these elements has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt by a prosecutor and each one contains its own separate defense.

Let’s use the common scenario that I described above about a fraudulent pawn transaction. Let’s pretend that you are charged with obtaining property by false pretenses for selling a stolen bike to a pawn shop. You would be guilty of this offense if you (1) made a representation that you were the owner of the bike, (2) that representation was false, (3) that it was your intention to deceive the pawnbroker, (4) that the pawnbroker was in fact deceived, and (5) finally, that you obtained something of value, like money, by the fraudulent representation.

Now taking that example, there are several defenses to each one of these elements. One very common defense in every case is simply that they have charged the wrong person and that you were never involved at all.

Another common one in this case is that you didn’t intend to deceive anyone. If you are selling a stolen bike, but you honestly have no idea it was stolen, then you aren’t guilty of this offense. This is common when people buy and sell things second hand and are unaware of an item’s origin. An item may have changed hands several times since it was originally stolen. Another defense is that the other person must actually be deceived. Selling a stolen item to someone who knows that it is stolen is not obtaining property by false pretenses.

There are several other defenses as well in many of these types of case. Call our Greensboro criminal defense attorneys at Aberle & Connolly, PLLC, to learn more.

Related Fraud Charges

• Embezzlement
• Larceny
• Accessing Government Computers
• Financial Card Theft
• Identity Theft