Heath

Appellant Heath was convicted in the United States District Court of Hawaii of wilfully converting and selling property of the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 641 . The sole question presented for our determination is whether or not the Government owned the property at the time it is alleged to have been converted and sold.

We have a sketchy record before us but it does disclose the following pertinent facts. On August 29, 1950, the Federal Supply Service, General Service Administration, hereafter the Government, entered into a written contract with the Hugo Neu Corporation of New York, hereafter the contractor, whereby the Government agreed to sell to the contractor a designated amount of brass scrap stored at the Hawaiian Ordnance Depot, Honolulu, Hawaii. In exchange for the scrap the contractor agreed to deliver to the Government specified amounts of copper.

Article 3 of the contract provided, in part, that the scrap metals would be “loaded f. o. b. common carrier conveyance at the present storage points designated in Article 2 [Hawaiian Ordnance Depot], Such scrap metals shall be delivered to and accepted by the contractor ‘as is’, and the contractor shall be…