Morgan v Commonwealth
Ct of App Kentucky 1932
Author:- Sam Biers

Facts: Df was a supervisor with Western Union.  The office was equipped with a safe and he alone had a combination to, another comb was mailed and kept at the regional office.  Inside the safe was a vault and the df had keys to that also.  July the safe was discovered opened and the vault missing.It was found in a field near the df’s apartment. $90 was missing.

Issue: Whether df indictment for larceny should have been for embezzlement?

Holding: Embezzlement.

Procedure: Convicted of grand larceny, sentenced to two years.  Reversed.

Rule: Embezzlement is the wrongful appropriation or conversion of property where the original taking is lawful, or with the consent of the owner. 

Ct. Rationale: The df was a bailee of the owner, in charge of receiving the money.  At the time the df converted the funds, they were in the safe, the owner intended that they should be in his possession.  At that time they were not the possession of Western Union.  Thus the conversion was embezzlement not larceny.

PL A: Df was in custody of the money, the safe belonged to Western Union, and df was merely a custodian of the transaction, not the possessor.

Df A: As an agent df was in possession of the money until it was handed over to W. U.

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