People v. Calderon CA4/3

FACTS

On April 23, 2014, a customer entered Speedy Cash, a check cashing business. The customer handed two checks (in the amounts of $330.80 and $959.80) and a California driver’s license identification card to a Speedy Cash employee. The checks were made payable to a company, Eclipse Lighting and Electrical (Eclipse). The Speedy Cash employee asked the customer whether the payee was his company. The customer said yes, but he did not have any documentation proving that fact. The employee informed the customer that she would have to verify the legitimacy of the checks and that she would call him back. The employee made a copy of the customer’s identification card. The customer asked the employee to use the proceeds of the check to pay off a balance he owed on a loan from Speedy Cash. Using the identification card, the employee confirmed that the customer had a balance owed to Speedy Cash. The customer departed from Speedy Cash. The employee maintained possession of the checks. An owner of Eclipse, Dave Oakden, was contacted by Speedy Cash regarding the checks. Oakden notified the police. Oakden recalled receiving one of the two checks earlier that month as payment for services…