Mack

*976 Opinion

Defendant Mack appeals his conviction by the trial court for grand theft in violation of Penal Code section 487. 1 He contends that his motion to set aside the information under section 995 2 was improperly denied.

The following statement of facts is based upon the preliminary hearing transcript. Richard Robbins, a detective with the Ventura Police Department, was assigned to investigate an auto theft and a service station cash box theft, both of which occurred late August 18 or early August 19, 1977. In October, Robbins interviewed a group of defendant’s friends, who all told him a basically similar story: defendant Mack stole a pickup truck and then with two other young men stole the cash box from the gas station while the attendant was asleep. The three of them then drove to an undeveloped area near a cemetery, where they pried open the cash box and split the proceeds equally. As they started to drive away from the cemetery, they observed a police car coming toward them, abandoned the truck and ran across an open field. This testimony was admitted over a hearsay objection; the court ruled it admissible for probable cause only.

After questioning Mack’s friends,…