United States v. John Joseph Clutterbuck

Appellant was convicted of theft of Government property in excess of $100 in value, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641 . 1 He was given concurrent sentences of ten years on each of four counts and on one of the counts was fined $10,000. 2 The sole question presented on appeal is whether the Government established that the value of the articles stolen exceeded $100.

On four separate occasions over a five-week period appellant stole aircraft pump parts known as “yokes” from an Army surplus warehouse. 3 The yokes stolen had been used by the Government and discarded as outworn. They were consigned to bins containing miscellaneous steel pump parts and were held for sale *486 as steel scrap at prices ranging from six cents to ten cents a pound. On Government books they were no longer classified as pump parts, but as scrap.

The Government proved that the yokes cost the Government $88 each. On the authority of Fulks v. United States, 283 F.2d 259 (9th Cir. 1960), cert. denied, 365 U.S. 812 , 81 S.Ct. 693 , 5 L.Ed.2d 692 (1961), it contends that this establishes the value of the thefts as measured by the “cost price.”

We disagree. Fulks dealt with unused surplus aircraft instruments held…

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent.

The majority opinion does violence to the statute enacted by Congress, 18 U.S.C. § 641 . The statute provides in part, that whoever steals a “thing of value of the United States” shall be guilty of a crime. [Emphasis added]. If the value is over $100 the crime is a felony but if the value of such property does not exceed the sum of $100 the crime is a misdemeanor.

In order to facilitate prosecutions for theft of government property, the Congress defined value in the section, “The word ‘value’ means face, par, or market value, or cost price, whether wholesale or retail, whichever is greater.” [ 18 U.S.C. § 641 ]. Congress obviously knew what it was doing in defining value, since in 18 U.S.C. § 2311 , defining value for the sections in the chapter covering foreign or interstate transportation of stolen property, there was no mention of cost price in the definition of value. The purpose of 18 U.S.C. § 2314 , one of the sections in the chapter, was to penalize violators of state law who utilize or cause to be utilized, the channels of foreign or interstate commerce to transport stolen property. United States v. Sheridan, 329 U.S. 379 , 67 S.Ct.…

421 F.2d 485 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John Joseph CLUTTERBUCK, Defendant-Appellant. No. 23598. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. Jan. 20, 1970. James E. Hogan (argued), Davis, Cal., William H. Lally, of Lally, Martin & Chidlaw, Louis N. Desmond, of Desmond, Miller, Desmond & West, Sacramento, Cal., for defendant-appellant. James J. Simonelli (argued), Asst. U.S. Atty., John P. Hyland, U.S. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee. Before MADDEN, Judge of the Court of Claims, and MERRILL and CARTER, Circuit Judges. MERRILL, Circuit Judge. 1 Appellant was convicted of theft of Government property in excess of $100 in value, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 641. 1 He was given concurrent sentences of ten years on each of four counts and on one of the counts was fined $10,000. 2 The sole question presented on appeal is whether the Government established that the value of the articles stolen exceeded $100. 2 On four separate occasions over a five-week period appellant stole aircraft pump parts known as 'yokes' from an Army surplus warehouse. 3 The yokes stolen had been used by the Government and discarded as outworn. They were consigned to bins containing…