Leon

Richard Leon waived his right to a jury trial and was tried by the court, which convicted him of passing a forged check (Pen. Code, § 470, subd. (d)) and grand theft (§ 487, subd. (a)). The court also convicted Leon’s codefendant Leslie Garza of three separate counts of passing forged checks and three counts of grand theft. The court sentenced Leon to prison for the two-year middle term for passing a forged check, stayed imposition of sentence for grand theft (§ 654), and ordered him to pay victim restitution under section 1202.4, subdivision (f) of $13,450 jointly and severally with his codefendant Garza. Leon contends the court erred in ordering him to pay $13,450 restitution.

FACTS

On September 13, 2002, Michael Farber was hospitalized after suffering a stroke. While he was in the hospital, his checks were stolen from his apartment. Six checks were fraudulently written on Farber’s account. One for $2,450 was made out to, and cashed by, Leon. Three totaling $11,000 were made out to, and cashed by, Garza.

The probation department recommended that Leon be ordered to pay $2,450 victim restitution for the check underlying his conviction. However, the court found that he…