Opinion ID: 2208968
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: theft by failure to make required disposition

Text: Appellant next argues that the evidence was insufficient in regard to his convictions of theft by failure to make required dispositions. We are still considering the three incidents discussed above, but analyzing them in relation to another theft statute. This particular statute reads as follows: § 3927. Theft by Failure to Make Required Disposition of Funds Received. (a) Offense defined.  A person who obtains property upon agreement, or subject to a known legal obligation, to make specified payments or other disposition, whether from such property or its proceeds or from his own property to be reserved in equivalent amount, is guilty of theft if he intentionally deals with the property obtained as his own and fails to make the required payment or disposition. The foregoing applies notwithstanding that it may be impossible to identify particular property as belonging to the victim at the time of the failure of the actor to make the required payment or disposition. In Commonwealth v. Crafton, 240 Pa.Super. 12, 16, 367 A.2d 1092, 1094 (1976), this court outlined the four elements of the crime of theft by failure to make required disposition: 1. the obtaining of property of another; 2. subject to an agreement of known legal obligation upon the recipient to make specified payments or other disposition thereof; 3. intentional dealing with the property obtained as the defendant's own; and 4. failure to make the required disposition of the property. The Commonwealth contends that appellant obtained the property of ULDC ($202,400.00), subject to an agreement, (as expressed in his application) to use the money for the mobilization of the Osage Avenue Redevelopment Project. He then converted portions of the money to his own use and thereby failed to make the required disposition of the property. Appellant argues that the $202,400.00 was an advance payment on a construction contract with title and ownership of the money passing to E & H. Therefore, he was not dealing with the property of ULDC. In addition, he did not receive the money subject to any agreement to make specified payments. His application request for funds was only a non-binding list of construction categories and estimates. To bolster his position, appellant cites Commonwealth v. Austin, 258 Pa.Super. 461, 393 A.2d 36 (1978), wherein this court reversed a conviction for theft by failure to make lawful disposition of funds received. We find Austin clearly distinguishable. In the Austin case, a contractor received advance money for the purchase of materials on a construction contract. Austin performed for two months when he realized that he had under-estimated the job. Having run out of money, he stopped work. Although some of the advance money was not spent on materials, the evidence showed that all the money was spent in a manner which could be construed to have been necessary for the completion of the project. Austin's conviction was reversed because (1) he had not fraudulently obtained the advance money; (2) the construction contract was not an agreement which compelled Austin to use the money only for the purchase of materials; (3) the money was otherwise spent in furtherance of the proposed project; and (4) the failure to complete the job was not due to Austin's converting the money to his personal use. In the instant case, the evidence showed that Ernest Edwards obtained the $202,400.00 from ULDC by convincing the agency that he would use the money to mobilize the Osage Project. Appellant submitted several applications for mobilization funds until ULDC finally agreed that the specifications proposed by appellant satisfied its requirements for the loan. Thus, appellant obtained the property of another subject to an agreement that it would be used in the mobilization effort. [4] The money appellant received was property in which ULDC had an interest which appellant was not privileged to infringe. This loan agreement encompassed more than a mere promise by appellant to repay the money, as may be the case in a creditor-debtor relationship. In fact it is appellant himself who provides a correct interpretation of the agreement: To the contrary, the only agreement or known legal obligation concerning the disposition of the mobilization loan proceeds, if any, supported by the evidence, is an agreement to apply the proceeds to the payment of all necessary mobilization expenses.  (Emphasis added). Appellant's brief at page 23. Therefore, when appellant intentionally converted some of the proceeds of the loan to his own use by paying off old debts (Bill No. 3378), double dipping on the transportation expenses (Bill No. 3398), and pocketing the money from Premier (Bill No. 3380), he committed a theft by failing to make the legally required disposition of the funds.