State v. Phillips, ___ N.C. App. ___, 797 S.E.2d 704 (Mar. 7, 2017)

The trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss a charge of attempting to obtain property by false pretenses. After an officer learned about larcenies of Michael Kors items from a local store, he found an online posting for similar items in an online flea market. Using a fake name and address, the officer created a social media account and started a conversation with the seller, later determined to be the defendant, to discuss purchase of the items. The two agreed to meet. Unbeknownst to the defendant, the officer decided to set up an undercover purchase for one of the items to determine if it in fact was stolen from the local store or whether it was counterfeit merchandise. The undercover purchase occurred and the item in question was determined to be counterfeit. Noting that actual deceit is not an element of attempting to obtain property by false pretenses, the court held that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that because he did not actually represent the item as an authentic Michael Kors item, there was no evidence of a false pretense or intent to deceive. The court noted that the defendant advertised the items as Michael Kors bags and described them as such to the undercover officer. Additionally, the defendant purchased the bags from a warehouse in Atlanta that sold them for only a fraction of their worth, suggesting that the defendant knew the merchandise was counterfeit. The court also rejected the defendant’s argument that because the offense was completed, a conviction for attempt was improper. The offense only occurs if the property actually is obtained in consequence of the victim’s reliance on the false pretense. Here, because of the undercover operation, the officer was never deceived by the defendant’s misrepresentation.