Otubuah

A jury convicted defendant and appellant Michael Ayiku Otubuah of 19 counts (1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 14, 16, 18, 24-34) of unlawful use of personal identifying information (Pen. Code, § 530.5, subd. (a)), [1] nine counts (3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 15, 17, 19) of burglary from a store (§ 459), one count (10) of grand theft (§ 487), one count (13) of attempted grand theft (§§ 664, 487), one count (20) of receiving stolen property (§ 496, subd. (a)), one count (21) of possessing a firearm as a felon (§ 12021, subd. (a)), one count (22) of possessing a counterfeit driver's license with the intent of using it to commit any forgery (§ 470b), and 27 counts (counts 35-61) of forgery for possessing completed checks with the intent to defraud (§ 475, subd. (c)). Defendant contends that only one conviction lies for all of the 27 forgery counts because all 27 checks were possessed on a single occasion. We reverse 24 of the 27 forgery convictions, leaving one conviction per victim, and modify to impose omitted court security fees.

Defendant was involved in an identity theft ring. The parties stipulated that, on or about May 20, 2008, one of the other participants in the identity theft ring…