Charles Sachs v. United States

Sachs appeals from judgment of conviction of the crime of receiving goods stolen from interstate commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 659 . He was charged with having bought, on two occasions in Los Angeles, a total of three cartons of phonograph records from one Berson, who had bought them from one Stephens, who had stolen them from his employer, Ringsby Truck Lines. The principal question upon appeal is whether the District Court erred in admitting evidence of other transactions between Sachs and Berson relating to stolen phonograph records.

The purchases specified in the indictment were made in November, 1957, and February, 1958. Sachs operated a retail record store in Los Angeles. Ringsby Truck Lines, during this period of time, handled shipments of records from Terre Haute, Indiana, destined for Santa Barbara, California. In Los Angeles the shipments were placed on the company’s docks.

Both Stephens and Berson testified for the government. Each admitted his part in the thefts. From their testimony it appears that certain cartons of records, constituting a portion of these interstate shipments, were stolen from the company’s docks by Stephens and sold to Berson. From the records so…