People v. DeWald
Michigan Court of Appeals
705 N.W.2d 167 (2005)
Relevant factsFree
During the 2000 presidential campaign, DeWald (defendant) operated two PACs, falsely representing one as supporting the Democratic candidate and the other as supporting the Republican candidate to solicit donations totaling $700,000, none of which actually went to either candidate or campaign; a jury convicted him of false pretenses, and he appealed.
IssueFree
Whether the crime of false pretenses consists of knowingly and falsely representing an existing fact with the intent of deceiving a victim into detrimentally relying on the false representation.