Edward S. Lemasters, Sr. v. United States

The appellant was convicted and sentenced, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, for three violations of section 2113(b) of Title 18, United States Code. The section contains two paragraphs. The first paragraph is the one here involved. It reads as follows:

The indictment contained three counts, each of which charged that the appellant “did take and carry away, with intent to steal and purloin,” money of value in excess of $100 from the Watson-ville, California, branch of the Bank of America, the money being taken from the account of one Tournour, by the appellant’s falsely and fraudulently representing himself, by the presentation of stolen identification papers, to be Tournour. The amounts so obtained, on three separate occasions, were alleged in the indictment to have been $400, $3500 and $2800 respectively. The indictment alleged that the involved bank was a member of the Federal Reserve System, and that its deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

On December 28, 1964, the appellant succeeded in persuading a teller, acting as such, at the bank that he was Tournour, that he had lost his savings account pass…