United States v. Comstock Extension Mining Co., Inc.

One of the declared purposes of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, 50 U.S.C. A.Appendix, § 1611 et seq., was “To afford returning veterans an opportunity to establish themselves as proprietors of agricultural, business, and professional enterprises”. 58 Stat., Chapter 479, p. 765.

The United States government thinks that advantage was taken of it in the early days of June, 1946, when a veteran, John M. Ross, secured an International 2% ton dump truck from the War Assets Administration at the Navy base at Port Hueneme, California. The veteran Ross had been accompanied to California from Phoenix by Tony Tro-janovich, president of Comstock Extension Mining Co., Inc., and Walter J. Crawford. In securing the truck, Ross made a false representation in writing to the effect that he, Ross, intended to use the truck in his little (non-existent) trucking business. Ross obtained the truck, using the money of Trojanovich’s company, Comstock Extension Mining Co., Inc., to make the purchase. Ross paid the government for the truck with a cashier’s check of the Valley National Bank of Phoenix in the amount of $2,-917.97 plus some $235 in cash. Before going to California, Trojanovich had purchased…