But for embezzlement, D must convert it , i.e., deprive the owner of a significant part of its usefulness. The police stop D after he has driven the car for one mile. D is not technically guilty of embezzlement, since he has not yet deprived the company of a significant part of the car's usefulness, and thus has not converted it. Thus if D has an obligation to make payment from his own funds , he cannot embezzle even if he fraudulently fails to make the payment. D, a coal mine operator, has his employees sign orders directing D to deduct from their wages the amount that each owes to a grocery store.
D deducts the amount, but then fails to pay the store owner.
D is not guilty of common-law embezzlement, because he did not misappropriate the employees' money, but rather, failed to make payment from his own funds. He is civilly liable but not criminally liable. The provision applies wherever D not only agrees to make a payment but reserves funds for this obligation. D in Mitchneck , supra , would be liable under the MPC rule. Thus one partner in a business cannot commit common-law embezzlement against the other.