People v. Rolando S.

Appellant Rolando S. challenges the juvenile court’s finding that he committed identity theft under Penal Code section 530.5, subdivision (a) 1 (hereafter section 530.5(a)) when he accessed the account of S.W. (the victim) on a social media Web site (Facebook), altered her profile and posted obscene messages and comments purportedly as the victim from her account in April 2010. Appellant argues his conduct fails to satisfy the statutory elements of the crime. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Appellant was one of several recipients of an unsolicited text message providing the password to the victim’s e-mail account. Appellant used the victim’s e-mail password and account to gain access to her Facebook account, where he posted, in her name, prurient messages on two of her male friends’ pages (walls) and altered her profile description in a vulgar manner. 2 The victim found out about the messages and informed her father, who removed the messages from her account and later called the police.

Appellant admitted to the police that he posted the messages from the victim’s Facebook account and altered her profile. A…