Barrett v. Stanislaus County Employees Retirement Association

Defendant Darlene Keehley appeals after a jury convicted her of one count of welfare fraud (former Welf. & Inst. Code, § 11483, subd. (2)), two counts of perjury (Pen. Code, § 118) and one count of unauthorized possession of food stamps (former Pen. Code, § 396). The perjury counts were alleged to have occurred on the specific dates of December 22, 1982, and January 1, 1983. Keehleys principal contentions involve her asserted statute of limitations defense. As to the welfare fraud and food stamp counts, we conclude that they are continuing offenses such that the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the offense is completed. Here, the undisputed facts show that these two offenses were not completed until at least June 1983. Thus, the prosecution, which was filed on April 3, 1985, was well within the three-year statute of limitations. (See former Pen. Code, § 800.) As to the perjury counts, a similar rationale cannot apply because perjury is not a continuing crime. The instances of perjury charged by the prosecutor, however, also fall well within the limitations period. Accordingly, we affirm.