People v. Riggins

Riggins (defendant) owned a collection agency handling roughly 500 accounts, including that of Dorothy Tarrant, under an oral agreement that Riggins would collect Tarrant's delinquent accounts for a percentage commission and would not need to account for funds until a bill was paid in full. The parties disputed the exact mechanics of the commission deduction, but for nearly two years Tarrant exercised no control over how or when Riggins collected, and knew he commingled her funds with money from all his other clients in one account he also used personally. When Tarrant learned Riggins had collected several of her accounts in full without paying her, she pressed charges, and he was convicted of embezzlement.