00-2791 State v. Mata

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“Mata argues that the trial court was erroneous in finding a factual basis for her forgery pleas because she contends that her conduct did not rise to the level of forgery. Mata claims that her use of aliases when opening her various bank accounts and her issuance of checks from these accounts under the various aliases did not violate the forgery statute because they were not “purporting to be that of another” under the statute. Mata goes into a lengthy debate about whether to apply the broad or narrow definitions of this element of forgery and points to the different rules (broad and narrow) that have emerged from other jurisdictions. Mata’s discussion on this point is academic because we recently addressed this very issue in State v. Czarnecki, 2000 WI App 155, 237 Wis. 2d 794, 615 N.W.2d 672, review denied, 237 Wis. 2d 260, 618 N.W.2d 750 (Wis. Aug. 29, 2000) (No. 99-1985-CR). …

“Although Mata claimed an innocent reason for the use of her aliases (i.e., fear of her husband), the fact remains that she also used the aliases as a means of financially benefiting from issuing checks she knew could not be covered because the account they were drawn from had insufficient funds. And she did this time and again. She pled to 37 counts of forgery; 187 counts were read in. Each and every count was based on a fraudulently issued check signed under an alias. Mata’s conduct involved more than the crime of issuing worthless checks-she passed herself off under an alias as part of a fraudulent scheme to obtain money via the issuance of checks from an account she knew to have insufficient funds. That is the crux of forgery. Mata pled to forgery and the trial court, based on its finding of a factual basis, properly accepted Mata’s forgery pleas.”

Judgment and order affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

Dist II, Walworth County, Race, J., Anderson, J.

Attorneys:

For Appellant: Lora B. Cerone, Elkhorn; Charles D. Larson, Baraboo

For Respondent: Phillip A. Koss, Elkhorn; William C. Wolford, Madison