Morelos
People v. Morelos
Opinion
Opinion
Gomes, J.
On November 3, 2005, sheriff’s deputies with a search warrant for a house in Reedley announced their presence, but received no answer, then tried without success to open the front door, which was barricaded, and finally entered the house through the backdoor. Inside, they detained Santiago Cardenas Morelos and Diana Yazzano and seized sheets of blank checks, check printing software, sheets of currency, California driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, credit cards, credit card statements, firearms, a computer, four printers, laminating sheets, and lists of other people’s names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, California driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, and potential access codes.
On January 3, 2007, a jury found Morelos and Yazzano guilty of multiple counts of receiving stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496, subd. (a)), forgery of blank checks (§ 475, subd. (b)), forgery of altered checks (§ 476), and possession of forged driver’s licenses (§ 470b) and found Morelos alone guilty of money counterfeiting (§ 470, subd. (d)) and felon in possession of a firearm (§ 12021, subd. (a)(1)).