State v. Jones, 223 N.C. App. 487 (Nov. 20, 2012)

No fatal variance occurred in an identity theft case. The defendant argued that there was a fatal variance between the indictment, which alleged that he possessed credit card numbers belonging to four natural persons and the evidence, which showed that three of the credit cards were actually business credit cards issued in the names of the natural persons. The court explained: “[N]o fatal variance exists when the indictment names an owner of the stolen property and the evidence discloses that that person, though not the owner, was in lawful possession of the property at the time.” Here the victims were the only authorized users of the credit cards and no evidence suggested they were not in lawful possession of them.