Gentry

In this modern computer age, creative entrepreneurs are carving out large fortunes by providing new and unique services to the untrained public. Lelas Charles Gentry was just such an entrepreneur, advertising his services in the field of credit history improvement to individuals who found themselves floundering in a financial morass. Unfortunately, rather than throwing them a lifeline, he merely offered them a rope and anchor.

Gentry was convicted of three counts of illegal computer access (Pen. Code, § 502, subd. (b)), one count of grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (1)) and one charge of unlawful use or manufacture of a driver’s license (Veh. Code, § 14610, subd. (g) [as it read in 1987]). He was acquitted of one charge of counterfeiting a driver’s license (Pen. Code, § 470a). He challenges his conviction on four grounds: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the grand theft conviction; (2) the evidence was insufficient to support the computer access charges; (3) the unlawful use or manufacture of a license was a lesser related offense of counterfeiting a driver’s license and he did not consent to such a finding; and (4) his conviction for illegal computer…