Counts

— Appellant Marshall Edward Mikels was convicted on numerous charges of grand theft and the making of false financial statements; appellant Michael Gregory Counts was convicted on charges of receiving stolen property. All the charges against both appellants arose from multiple thefts of lumber from lumber companies. Appellants raise numerous contentions of error.

We conclude there was no prejudicial error and affirm the judgments of conviction. In the published portion of this opinion, we hold that Mikels could properly be convicted of theft, on a theory of theft by false pretenses, despite the fact a security interest was retained in the stolen property by the victim; and that the abstruse technical question of whether this crime might also have been theft on a theory of larceny by trick could not result in reversal of the theft conviction.

I. Facts and Procedural History

Appellants were construction contractors who joined together in acts designed to steal lumber from lumber companies.

In early February 1992, Mikels was in deep financial difficulties, and county records showed he owed more than $800,000 to creditors. He filed a petition for writ of mandate and…