State Utah v. Don W. Dunbar

DURHAM, Justice: This is an appeal from a jury conviction of fraudulent use of a credit card in violation of U.C.A., 1953, 76-6-506 to -506.3. We affirm. In December of 1980, the appellant obtained a credit card from the St. George branch of Zions First National Bank (hereafter the Bank). Within one month, the appellant had exceeded his $500 credit limit. Bank officials made several attempts to contact the appellant and finally did so in February of 1981. They informed the appellant that the account was cancelled and demanded the return of his credit card. The appellant refused to return the credit card on two separate occasions, threatening physical violence to a Bank official on one of those occasions. The Bank placed the account number in a warning bulletin effective on March 14, 1981, and thereafter refused to pay any charges presented to it by merchants. Between April 5 and April 30, 1981, the appellant made six charges on his credit card, totaling $285.72. One of these transactions, in the amount of $28.63, occurred in Weber County; all of the others occurred in Cache County. The appellant admitted that he was the person who used the credit card in all of these transactions and that he knew that the account and credit card were revoked at the time. The criminal charges against the appellant were filed in Cache County and alleged fraudulent use of a credit card to obtain property worth more than $250 and less than $1,000, a third-degree felony. See U.C.A., 1953, 76-6-506.1(3).