Ravenscroft

Through a “slow plea” the court below convicted William Martin Ravenscroft of three counts of second degree burglary, among other crimes. Ravenscroft committed the burglaries by surreptitiously stealing and inserting the automatic teller machine (ATM) card of his traveling companion, Barbara Ann Lewis, in two ATM’s and punching in her personal identification number, which he had previously noted, on the ATM keypads in order to withdraw funds from her account.

The sole issue on appeal is whether his insertion of Lewis’s ATM card in the ATMs, mounted inside the banks and secured flush with the exterior walls of those banks, constitutes a sufficient entry of a building to support a conviction for burglary. We hold that it does and affirm the conviction.

Discussion

It appears that this is a case of first impression. We are called upon to examine the scope of the terms “building” and “entry,” for the purpose of California Penal Code section 459, which defines the crime of burglary in this state. Penal Code section 459 states that “[ejvery person who enters any . . . shop, . . . store, ... or other building, . . . with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is…