Pittsburgh woman loses Superior Court appeal in vehicle theft case
A panel of Superior Court judges has upheld the sentence of a Pittsburgh woman who appealed after a Fayette County jury found her guilty of perpetrating an elaborate vehicle theft.
Yvonne Ican Bradley, 48, was convicted in February of theft by deception, receiving stolen property, forgery and tampering with records.
According to testimony, Bradley sneaked into a car dealership in Pittsburgh disguised as a cleaning lady, stole a check from the dealership and cashed it for $25,000, used the money to buy an SUV and then listed it for sale online, bilking a Markleysburg couple out of around $10,000 for the vehicle.
In her appeal, Bradley asked the Superior Court to consider whether the trial judge made a mistake by denying her motion for a mistrial after opening statements were presented to the jury.
Bradley claimed the prosecution mentioned that “there were 100 checks stolen from P&W Motors and that (Jesse) Virgin had received a stolen check” in its opening statement, and since she was not charged with stealing the checks, that statement amounted to a reference to prior uncharged bad acts.
The Superior Court waived that argument because Bradley failed to include a transcript of the opening statement.
“Because we are unable to view the prosecutor’s opening statement, we have no way of knowing what the prosecutor actually said during her opening statement,” the court concluded.
Bradley also contended in the appeal that the commonwealth failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was she who forged or tampered with the documents in this case, only that she was in possession of a flash drive that contained altered documents. Bradley asked for a judgment of acquittal on the forgery and tampering with records charges, which the trial judge denied.
“The evidence of record supports the conclusion that (Bradley), with the intent to defraud, executed the unauthorized check from P&W Motors and presented it to Jesse Virgin for purposes of obtaining the GMC Yukon,” wrote the judges, and by doing so, she acted as an agent of the car dealership without its authorization.
“The evidence established that (Bradley) presented herself to (the purchaser of the vehicle) as Michelle Jorry and provided . . . a falsified Pennsylvania certificate of title for the vehicle, indicating that Michelle Jorry had title to the vehicle. This falsified document was included on the flash drive found on (Bradley’s) person,” the court went on to say.
The Superior Court concluded that the commonwealth produced evidence sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Bradley was guilty of both those charges.
Bradley additionally argued that the prosecution failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that she was the person who purchased the vehicle from Virgin, or had ever been to P&W Motors.
The judges stated that they found her arguments unpersuasive.
however, because Virgin “unwaveringly” identified Bradley as the person who bought the vehicle from him, and he testified that he met her at P&W motors to complete the transaction.