Quiroz

I.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Maria Quiroz appeals from a judgment of conviction and sentence arising from her participation in a widespread and sophisticated check forgery scheme. As one of 34 codefendants in a 66-count indictment, Quiroz was charged with conspiracy to defraud another, grand theft and forgery of checks. Quiroz admitted that in 2003 she sold her bank account information and personal information to two of her codefendants. After Quiroz sold her information, stolen and forged checks were deposited into her bank account. A few days after the forged checks were deposited into Quiroz’s account, someone withdrew thousands of dollars from the account. Quiroz contended in her defense that she believed her account was going to be used to hide drug money, not to pass stolen and forged checks. A jury convicted Quiroz of one count of conspiracy to defraud another and one count of grand theft.

Quiroz challenges the judgment of conviction on seven grounds: (1) that the trial court erred in refusing to hold a hearing to determine whether Quiroz was a minor at the time she committed the alleged offenses; (2) that the court erred in failing to stay the criminal proceedings…