Betty Jane Chapman v. United States

Appellant was indicted and convicted by a jury of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (c). Section 2113(c) of Title 18, United States Code, reads, insofar as the indictment here involved is concerned, as follows:

Section 2113(b), Title 18, United States Code, reads in pertinent part:

The indictment charged that appellant “received, possessed and concealed” certain personal property, “stolen from the People’s Bank * * * knowing the same to have been stolen.” The “property” was alleged to be of “a value of more than $100.00.”

The “property” involved was all found by police in appellant’s residence on August 21, 1963. Appellant, a former escrow clerk (or “escrow officer”) of the bank, had voluntarily terminated her employment at the bank March 21, 1963, some five months prior to the discovery by the police of the “property,” but had “balked” at returning the key permitting entrance to the bank premises. (Exs. A and B.) Twice prior to Friday, August 16, 1963, various escrow papers or files had disappeared from the bank. Thinking that they might have been mislaid or misfiled, bank officials took no action. Over the weekend of August 16th to August 19th, 1963, several other papers…