People v. Ghoston CA2/2

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Defendant met Javier Fernandez (Fernandez) along a public walkway near the Queen Mary. Fernandez was a 63-year-old widower who lived alone and had significant health issues. Seeing Fernandez in distress, defendant offered to help. The next day, she again encountered Fernandez near the Queen Mary. This time, she followed him home. Within a week, she offered to help him around the house, moved in with him, and asked to borrow $600 ($400 to fix her car, and $200 to buy marijuana). Within a month of meeting Fernandez, defendant was rifling through his financial documents. She took Fernandez’s debit card without his knowledge or permission while he was hospitalized for eight days, and used it to make more than 25 purchases and ATM withdrawals totaling about $5,000, including withdrawals from an ATM at the International Longshoreman Credit Union (defendant worked as a longshoreman). After Fernandez’s release from the hospital, defendant was caught on video buying two televisions with his debit card. When Fernandez reported the unauthorized use of his card, defendant was arrested; from her purse, police seized a trove of documents in Fernandez’s name—a…