Opinion ID: 2385352
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Eckert Transaction

Text: The drain in the kitchen sink of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest H. Eckert of Ardmore had been clogging continually for years. The efforts of two separate plumbers had been ineffectual in fixing the drain. In March of 1982 the Eckerts contacted Vic Snyder, Inc. about the problem. The company sent professional drain cleaner Daniel Hitchner to the Eckert abode, but after an hour and a half of work Hitchner too failed to clear the drain, and recommended that the Eckerts solicit the opinion of a plumbing contractor. Later, appellee Steven Clampers of Vic Snyder, Inc., visited the Eckert home unsummoned and surveyed the situation. Clampers told the Eckerts that exploratory work would have to be done to locate and examine the kitchen drain pipe, and the parties contracted for Vic Snyder, Inc. to do the job for $650. In order to find the source of the problem with the drain pipe, workmen had to tear up part of a double-thick concrete floor in the Eckerts' basement. The excavation exposed a ten-foot length of pipe that had disintegrated. Although little more than this ten feet of pipe was visible, Clampers told Mr. Eckert that the pipe was gone, indicating, according to Eckert's testimony, that the entire length of kitchen drain pipe, some thirty-five feet, was defective and had to be replaced. Eckert then signed a contract calling for Vic Snyder, Inc., to replace the drain pipe for a fee of $14,250, less a 10% senior citizen's discount (although, as Eckert told Clampers, he was not a senior citizen). Eckert later testified that although he thought the contract price was outrageous, he felt compelled to sign at the time because his kitchen sink was nonfunctional, his basement was all dug up and a terrible stench emanating from it, and he figured that Vic Snyder, Inc. had started the job and had to complete it. A plumbing expert called by the Commonwealth at the preliminary hearing testified to the effect that the price charged Mr. Eckert was well over double the fair price for the job, including profit. After the rotted section of pipe had been exposed, Daniel Hitchner, the drain cleaner, was called in again to clean out the remainder of the line. He ran a cable through the line and was able to effect a clear passage; in addition, he ran water at high pressure through the line for fifteen minutes without congestion. From this he concluded, as he later testified, that the unexposed portion of the line was in perfect condition. A few days after Hitchner had cleaned the drain pipe which was to be replaced, he was on the job site at the Eckert home when he was called to the telephone to talk to Vic Snyder. Snyder told Hitchner to do whatever Clampers said with regard to cleaning the drains there. Shortly thereafter, Clampers instructed Hitchner to clean all the drains in the Eckert house to make the price bigger. Hitchner left the Eckert job without cleaning all the drains as Clampers had instructed him. Subsequently, in the course of the investigation into the business practices of Vic Snyder, Inc., Detective William Hannum was told by Vic Snyder that he personally had set the price on the Eckert job. Also during the course of the investigation, Snyder called a meeting for employees who had been involved in the Eckert affair. He contacted Daniel Hitchner about attending the meeting, and asked Hitchner what he was going to say to the investigating authorities. Hitchner replied that he was going to tell the truth, including the fact Clampers had told him to clean all the Eckerts' drains to inflate the price. Snyder then remonstrated Hitchner not to tell the authorities what Clampers had said. Hitchner insisted he would tell the truth and refused to come to the meeting. Later that same day, Snyder telephoned Hitchner, who was on a house call, and fired him. The district justice found a prima facie case of theft by deception, deceptive business practices, and conspiracy against both Clampers and the corporation in connection with the Eckert job. The trial court granted habeas corpus on all charges against the corporation, and on the conspiracy charge against Clampers. All counts against the corporation are premised on its vicarious liability for the acts of Vic Snyder. The Crimes Code, at 18 Pa.C.S. § 307(a)(3), provides: Liability of organizations and certain related persons (a) Corporations generally.  A corporation may be convicted of the commission of an offense if: . . . . (3) the commission of the offense was authorized, requested, commanded, performed or recklessly tolerated by the board of directors or by a high managerial agent acting in behalf of the corporation within the scope of his office or employment. Snyder's status as high managerial agent of the corporation is undisputed. The Commonwealth's case against the corporation thus depends on a sufficient showing that Snyder authorized, requested, commanded, performed or recklessly tolerated the commission of theft by deception of deceptive business practices against the Eckerts. On the conspiracy counts, it was the Commonwealth's burden to establish a collusive agreement to commit the offenses of theft by deception or deceptive business practices. See 18 Pa.C.S. 903(a); Commonwealth v. Olds, 322 Pa.Super. 442, 469 A.2d 1072 (1983); Commonwealth v. Graves, 316 Pa.Super. 484, 463 A.2d 467 (1983). Shared criminal intent is a sine qua non of the crime of conspiracy. Commonwealth v. Schomaker, supra ; Commonwealth v. Horner, 497 Pa. 565, 442 A.2d 682 (1982); see also Commonwealth v. Ruffin, 317 Pa.Super. 126, 463 A.2d 1117 (1983). Proof of a conspiratorial agreement between Snyder and Clampers to commit the subject offenses necessarily would prove that Snyder at the very least recklessly tolerated the offenses. Thus, a finding that there was sufficient proof of a conspiracy would require us to reinstate not only the conspiracy count against Clampers, but also all charges lodged against the corporation on the theory of vicarious liability. The conspiracy alleged in this particular case is one to commit the crimes of theft by deception and deceptive business practices, both of which require a showing of fraudulent intent. Commonwealth v. Maleno, 267 Pa.Super. 560, 407 A.2d 51 (1979). We thus examine the words, conduct, and attendant circumstances of the alleged conspirators for evidence of an intent to defraud the Eckerts. See Commonwealth v. Posavek, supra . The acts of Clampers tending to establish his fraudulent intent were that he falsely represented to the Eckerts that their entire kitchen drain was gone, when in fact only a portion of the line was defective; and that he attempted to pad the contract with make-work (superfluous drain cleaning). The fact finder could infer from these acts that the Eckerts were intentionally misled as to the necessity, amount, or value of the work they received. See 18 Pa.C.S. § 3922(a); id. § 4107(a)(2); Commonwealth v. Joy, 253 Pa.Super. 177, 384 A.2d 1288 (1978) (false representations as to necessity or value of work done supported conviction for theft by deception). In addition, Clampers's deceptive representations to the Eckerts were memorialized in a written contract, on the basis of which the corporation obtained payment or credit. See 18 Pa.C.S. § 4107(a)(6). There was sufficient evidence of Clampers's intent to commit theft by deception and deceptive business practices even though much of the work done for the Eckerts was legitimate and therefore some portion of the payment obtained from them was not based on fraud. See Commonwealth v. Bentley, 302 Pa.Super. 264, 448 A.2d 628 (1982). The evidence of Snyder's complicity in the culpable acts of Clampers is entirely circumstantial. Nevertheless, due to the inchoate nature of a conspiracy, direct evidence of an explicit agreement is seldom attainable; thus a conspiracy ordinarily must be inferred from the relation, conduct, and circumstances of the parties, and may be proven by circumstantial evidence alone. Commonwealth v. Derr, 501 Pa. 446, 462 A.3d 208 (1983); Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 499 Pa. 389, 453 A.3d 927 (1982); Commonwealth v. Dolfi, 483 Pa. 266, 396 A.2d 635 (1979); Commonwealth v. Davis, 312 Pa.Super. 85, 458 A.2d 248 (1983); Commonwealth v. Davenport, 307 Pa.Super. 102, 452 A.2d 1058 (1982); Commonwealth v. Tumminello, 292 Pa.Super. 381, 437 A.2d 435 (1981). In the light of these principles, outlines of a conspiratorial agreement between Snyder and Clampers begin to emerge. Snyder set the contract price of $14,250, exorbitant for the work done at the Eckert home. Although the Commonwealth did not allege that it was criminal merely to overcharge the Eckerts, we must consider the fact that the job was overpriced in conjunction with the circumstantial evidence showing Snyder's imprimatur on the very aspects of the transaction as to which Clampers deceived the Eckerts. Snyder, who kept in frequent telephone contact with the job site, on one call specifically ordered a hesitant workman to replace the entire kitchen drain line, N.T. 3/2/83 at 192; on another he told Daniel Hitchner to do whatever Clampers instructed with regard to cleaning the drains, whereupon Clampers instructed Hitchner to run all the drains again to enhance the price, id. at 194. Where the conduct of the parties indicates they were acting in concert with a corrupt purpose in view, the existence of a conspiracy may properly be inferred. Commonwealth v. Esposito, 236 Pa.Super. 127, 344 A.2d 655 (1975); Commonwealth v. Schwartz, 210 Pa.Super. 360, 233 A.2d 904 (1967), aff'd, 432 Pa. 522, 248 A.2d 506 (1968), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 957, 90 S.Ct. 2161, 26 L.Ed.2d 541 (1970). Although the contract price had already been established by the time Snyder actively confirmed Clampers's orders, the totality of the circumstances suggests that Snyder and Clampers were still trying to account for a contract price that they both knew to be far out of proportion to the work actually needed at the Eckert home. We also cannot ignore what transpired after the investigation of Snyder's business had begun. On the day when employees of Vic Snyder, Inc. were to appear at an interview with investigating detectives, Snyder called a meeting of those involved in the Eckert transaction to get the story straight about what would be said to the detectives. N.T. 3/2/83 at 160. When Daniel Hitchner declined to attend the meeting, Snyder asked Hitchner what he was going to tell the investigators; Hitchner informed Snyder that he was going to tell the truth, that Clampers had told him to clean all the Eckerts' drains to make the price bigger; Snyder told Hitchner he could not divulge Clampers's spurious rationale for cleaning the drains; later that day, when Hitchner had not come to the meeting, Snyder fired him. In crimes involving fraudulent intent, subsequent statements and conduct of the accused revealing a culpable state of mind are often relevant to establish the requisite mens rea at the time of the alleged criminal acts. United States v. Stoehr, 196 F.2d 276 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 826, 73 S.Ct. 28, 97 L.Ed. 643 (1952). Acts, conduct, and declarations on the part of the accused showing a desire or disposition to conceal the crime or the results of the crime are generally admissible against him, provided there is other evidence of his participation in the crime. 22A C.J.S. Criminal Law § 624 (1961). A conspiracy may be proven by subsequent acts if those acts support an inference of prior agreement. Commonwealth v. Stephens, 231 Pa.Super. 481, 331 A.2d 719 (1974); Commonwealth v. Kelson, 134 Pa.Super. 132, 3 A.2d 933 (1939). Here Snyder's subsequent acts tend to prove that a corrupt confederation formed to implement criminal activity at the Eckert residence was now being turned to the purpose of concealing that activity. We are mindful that mere grounds for suspicion and conjecture are insufficient bases for a finding of probable cause. Commonwealth v. Wojdak, supra . When the Commonwealth relies on circumstantial proof to establish an inference, the test is whether the fact to be inferred, here a corrupt agreement between Snyder and Clampers, is more likely than not to flow from the facts proven. Id.; Commonwealth v. McFarland, 452 Pa. 435, 308 A.2d 592 (1973). After a careful study of the evidence, we find sufficient probable cause to believe more likely than not that Snyder and Clampers were in collusion to commit the crimes of theft by deception and deceptive business practices. Thus, the conspiracy count against Clampers and all counts against Vic Snyder, Inc., must be reinstated in the Eckert case.