Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Barker, 240 N.C. App. 224 (Apr. 7, 2015)
In an obtaining property by false pretenses case, the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction. The charges arose out of the defendant’s acts of approaching two individuals (Ms. Hoenig and Ms. Harward), falsely telling them their roofs needed repair, taking payment for the work and then performing shoddy work or not completing the job. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the evidence showed only that he “charged a lot for poor quality work” and not that he “obtained the property alleged by means of a misrepresentation,” finding that “[the] evidence demonstrates that defendant deliberately targeted Ms. Harward and Ms. Hoenig, two elderly women, for the purpose of defrauding each of them by claiming their roofs needed significant repairs when, as the State’s evidence showed, neither woman’s roof needed repair at all.”