Aggregating Value: A Prosecutor’s Guide to the New G.S. 15A-1340.16F

A new statute, effective next month (March 1, 2024), will give prosecutors greater power to combine the value of stolen property to justify a harsher sentence for certain financial crimes.  S.L. 2023-151, § 2(a).  Section 15A-1340.16F provides that if a person is convicted of two or more of the same financial crimes – embezzlement, false pretenses, or elder exploitation – the crimes may be “aggregated for sentencing” if: (1) the crimes were committed against more than one victim or in more than one county, and (2) the crimes were based on the same act or transaction or series thereof connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan.  The statute lays out a comprehensive arrangement for pleading, procedure, and punishment.  This post explores the new law.

A. Eligible Offenses, G.S. 15A-1340.16F(a).

For purposes of this section, the term “financial crime offense” means any of the following: (1) embezzlement under Article 18 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes, (2) false pretenses under G.S. 14-100, and (3) elder exploitation under G.S. 14-112.2.  Embezzlement under Ch. 14, Art. 18 includes eight offenses, from embezzlement of property received by virtue of office or employment (G.S. 14-90) to embezzlement of taxes by officers (G.S. 14-99).  Thus, despite the statutory enumeration, there are ten (not three) financial crimes subject to aggregation under the new law.

The crime of false pretenses is subject to the single taking rule.  Under that rule, a single larceny is committed when, as part of one continuous act or transaction, a defendant steals several items at the same time and place.  E.g., State v. Adams, 331 N.C. 317, 333, 416 S.E.2d 380, 389 (1992).  In State v. Buchanan, 262 N.C. App. 303, 821 S.E.2d 890 (2018), our Court of Appeals concluded that the defendant had committed only a single taking when he presented a false affidavit to obtain credit on three separate checks, and it remanded for the trial court to vacate one of his two convictions for false pretenses.  Id. at 308, 821 S.E.2d at 893.  Section 15A-1340.16F does not change the result in Buchanan, as the statute requires multiple convictions.  But, where the single taking rule is satisfied, it permits convictions to be combined for a higher penalty.