Redondo

Defendant, Andres C. Redondo, was a deputy sheriff for the Merced County Sheriff’s Department. He was convicted of felony embezzlement (Pen. Code, § 504) and misdemeanor theft (§ 488). These charges arose when defendant used his assigned sheriff’s department vehicle to steal a lawnmower. Defendant appeals, claiming opinion testimony was improperly admitted and asserting that his felony embezzlement conviction could not properly be based on his “momentary” usage of his patrol vehicle to steal the lawnmower. In the unpublished portion of our opinion, we reject the first claim. In our published discussion, we validate the embezzlement conviction, finding, however, the evidence supported a misdemeanor rather than a felony embezzlement.

Facts

In the early morning hours of July 14, 1991, Merced Police Sergeant Wallace L. Broughton was patrolling an area of commercial buildings when he saw a sheriff’s department car backed up to the Small Engine Doctor repair shop. He saw defendant standing behind the vehicle and saw the handle of a lawnmower sticking out the driver’s side of the trunk. It looked as if defendant was tying the trunk down. Sergeant Broughton recognized…