Henninger

The defendant was found guilty of obtaining money by false representations and pretenses. He was sentenced to imprisonment for the term of three years in the state prison. The appeal is from the judgment and from orders denying defendant’s motions in arrest of judgment and for a new trial.

The indictment charges the defendant with having obtained one thousand dollars in money from Domenico Lavagetto on the second day of March, 1910, by falsely representing that he was the owner and holder of a certain mortgage on real property, which mortgage he unlawfully and feloniously “pretended and represented to said Domenico Lavagetto . . . constituted then and there a first lien and a first encumbrance on the real property . . . described, and was then and there the only lien and the only encumbrance on said property.” The indictment then proceeds to set forth three respects in which those representations as to the condition of the property in respect of encumbrances were false. There were several prior liens on the property, but Domenico Lavagetto, says the indictment, believed' the representations and, depending upon them, purchased the mortgage from the defendant and paid him therefor…