Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...Defendants as fraudfeasors Upon being contacted by the Secret Service, Dr. Hangoc denied using or permitting someone to use his credit card at the hotel. The use of an unauthorized or counterfeit credit card to rent the rooms is a felony. FLA.STAT.ANN. § 509.151 (West 1988)....

...The other issues raised are found to be without merit and the trial court's findings are AFFIRMED in all other respects. SMITH, C.J., and JOANOS, J., concur. NOTES [1] Other crimes also make distinctions in the elements to be proved and the potential penalty, based on the value of the property involved. See § 509.151, Florida Statutes (obtaining food or lodging through fraud) and § 806.13, Florida Statutes (criminal mischief)....

...If less than $100 in food or lodging is obtained by fraud, the crime is a second degree misdemeanor with a penalty of up to 60 days in jail. If the amount exceeds $100, it is a third degree felony and the penalty increases to 5 years imprisonment. § 509.151....

...e the premises. Thereafter, the plaintiff and Handy were engaged in a continuous dispute until the plaintiff moved out on February 1. On February 7 she was arrested for the crime of obtaining lodging with intent to defraud the owner under Fla. Stat. § 509.151....

...The plaintiff seeks individual relief in the sense that she demands compensatory and punitive damages against Handy and IVH. She also attempts to sue on behalf of that class of persons who have been or may hereafter be prosecuted in Judge Wells' court under Fla. Stat. § 509.151, and "all persons in the State of Florida who may be prosecuted under said statute." There is an allegation that at least fifteen persons have been similarly prosecuted in Judge Wells' court in the last fifteen months with the result that they either paid their landlords or were found guilty. The plaintiff requests a declaratory judgment that Fla. Stat. § 509.151 is unconstitutional, asks that Judge Wells be enjoined from enforcing the statute and seeks the expungement of the arrest and conviction records of all persons arrested and/or convicted under the statute....

...sustaining a complaint in which facts were alleged to show a pattern of conduct on the part of a judge reflecting an illegal or discriminatory administration of his court. The order is affirmed. BOARDMAN, A.C.J., and McNULTY, J., concur. NOTES [1] "509.151 Obtaining lodging with intent to defraud; penalty....

...Petersburg, for appellant. Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Gerald L. Knight, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee. *284 BOYD, Justice. This cause is before us on a direct appeal from the County Court of Pinellas County. Appellant was charged with a violation of Section 509.151, Florida Statutes, which reads as follows: "509.151 Obtaining lodging with intent to defraud; penalty....

...n agreement in writing for delay in payments." Initially, Appellant pled not guilty and filed a Motion to Dismiss in which he asserted the constitutional invalidity of the above-quoted section; in his supporting memorandum Appellant argued that both Section 509.151 ("Obtaining lodging with intent to defraud; penalty.") and Section 509.161 ("Rules of evidence in prosecutions."), Florida Statutes, were unconstitutional in that (1) they create an impermissible presumption violative of the Fourteent...

...e statutory presumption. Likewise, we note that the federal Supreme Court has upheld the inference arising from the unexplained possession of recently stolen property. [8] It is our view that the prima facie evidence of intent to defraud provided by Section 509.151, Florida Statutes, is no more of an incursion into the right against self-incrimination and the right to present proof beyond a reasonable doubt than the presumptions upheld in Dirk and Barnes, supra. In Section 509.151, Florida Statutes, there are four requirements of the evidence in order to provide the prima facie evidence of intent: (1) the owner or operator must be shown to have probable cause to believe that the accused obtained food, lodging,...

...Michutka appeals the denial, without a hearing, of his Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850 motion for post conviction relief. We reverse. Michutka was convicted of one count of defrauding an innkeeper of more than $100 and one count of grand theft by use of a credit card, both third degree felonies. §§ 509.151(1) and 812.014, Fla. Stat. (1983). Section 509.151(1) provides that if the value of the food or lodging obtained by fraud is worth $100 or more the offense is a third degree felony....

...The court summarily denied Michutka's motion, stating that all of the grounds were or should have been raised on direct appeal. This denial was incorrect for several reasons. An information which fails to allege the value of the goods obtained by fraud pursuant to § 509.151 charges a misdemeanor....

...State, 315 So.2d 525 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975). In the instant case Michutka was charged only with a misdemeanor, although the proof at trial was that the value of the food and lodging in question was over $400. Because Michutka was not charged with a felony under § 509.151 he cannot be convicted of or sentenced for a felony regardless of the proof adduced at trial....

...Thus Kahler establishes that such language creates only a permissive inference (an evidentiary device that does not relieve the State of its burden). In Hamilton v. State, 329 So.2d 283 (Fla.1976), the court relied on Kahler when construing a statute similar to the one at issue in this case. Section 509.151 prohibited obtaining lodging with the intent to defraud....

with defrauding an innkeeper in violation of section 509.-151(1), Florida Statutes (1983). The state also

based on the value of the property involved. See § 509.151, Florida Statutes (obtaining food or lodging through

of defrauding an innkeeper, in violation of section 509.151, Florida Statutes, and grand larceny by use

and sentenced for a felonious violation of section 509.151, Florida Statutes (1981) — the statute which