Thomas Cruse, Appellant-Defendant v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

[1] Thomas Cruse appeals his conviction of Level 5 felony fraud on a financial institution.¹ He argues the State did not present sufficient evidence to sustain his conviction because it did not prove that he intended to defraud Legence Bank. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] In February 2022, Cruse owned TW Programming Services LLC (“TW Programming”), which was located in Chandler, Indiana, outside the Evansville area. TW Programming offered services including “vinyl wraps” for vehicles. (Tr. Vol. II at 136.) Cruse had a business account for TW Programming at Legence Bank. From the time he opened the business account for TW Programming ² and February 2022, the account had been overdrawn seventy-one times.

[3] On February 18, 2022, Cruse went to the Evansville, Indiana branch of Legence Bank. His account had a negative balance of $184.24. He deposited two checks, one for $200 and one for $4,780 (“the Check”). The Check indicated the payor was “Pristine Auto Spa” and listed an address in Indianapolis. (Ex. Vol. III at 4.) The Check purported to be from an account at Huntington Bank, it was made out to TW Programming, and Cruse endorsed it on the back. When he tendered the Check, Cruse asked the teller “if there was a way that they could verify if the check was good[.]” (Tr. Vol. II at 144.) The teller told Cruse “it looks like everything is good.” (Id.) After he deposited the two checks, Cruse withdrew $2,000 from the account in cash. On the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday following the deposit, Cruse withdrew a total of $1,500 from the account via ATM. He also made several debit transactions totaling approximately $800.

[4] On February 24, 2025, Huntington Bank returned the check without the requisite funds because it was “not able to connect an account number with the check. That account doesn't exist.” (Id. at 45-6.) After the check was removed from the TW Programming account, the balance was negative $5,184.86. Sometime shortly thereafter, bank employees attempted to contact Cruse via phone and text at the number on file for him. They also mailed notices regarding the account to the address they had on file. Cruse did not respond.

[5] On March 4, 2025, Legence Bank contacted the Evansville Police Department. Detective Nathan VanCleave of the Evansville Police Department conducted an initial investigation in which he reviewed bank security footage to identify Cruse and Cruse's vehicle, which Detective VanCleave identified as a “dark blue Ford Fusion[.]” (Id. at 105.) Detective VanCleave located Cruse's Facebook account. It featured a picture of a blue Ford Fusion. Detective VanCleave attempted to contact Cruse through Facebook Messenger but received no response.

[6] On March 22, 2022, Detective VanCleave went the address listed on TW Programming's bank account, which was on Crescent Court in Chandler, Indiana. The house appeared to be vacant and when Detective VanCleave knocked on the door he did not receive a response. He then went to an address on Lincoln Street in Chandler, which was the address listed by Cruse when he opened TW Programming's account at Legence Bank. The address was in a “business type building” and there was no signage at the address indicating TW Programming conducted business there. (Id. at 108.)

[7] Detective VanCleave then received information that Cruse may be staying at an address on Little Creek Parkway in Evansville. On March 28, 2023, he visited the address and no one was home. He went to the address the next day and there was a blue Ford Fusion in the driveway. Detective VanCleave knocked on the door and no one answered, so he left his business card. He collected the license plate information on the blue Ford Fusion. The car was registered to “TW Programming Service.” (Id. at 110.)

[8] Despite not having apprehended Cruse, on April 29, 2022, the State charged him with Level 5 felony fraud on a financial institution, Level 6 felony forgery,³ and Level 6 felony theft.⁴ Sometime in June 2022, police arrested Cruse. On June 10-11, 2024, the trial court held a jury trial that resulted in a hung jury.

[9] Cruse was retried on January 21-22, 2025. Cruse testified that in early 2022, he had been contacted by an account for “Pristine Auto Spa” via Facebook Messenger. (Id. at 139.) He stated he entered an agreement with a representative of Pristine Auto Spa to “install[ ] their design on six trucks.” (Id.) He told the trial court that he did not meet the person with whom he corresponded on Facebook Messenger, but he spoke to the person via the audio call feature on Facebook Messenger. Cruse could not remember the person's name. He testified he completed the job and contacted the representative via Facebook Messenger. He asked that payment be wired to his account but instead the representative mailed him the Check. He told the trial court that after the representative mailed him the Check, he was no longer able to contact them through Facebook Messenger. Upon discovering the Check was fraudulent, Cruse indicated he contacted the Indianapolis Marion County Police Department (“IMPD”) and opened a case. He testified he did not call the Evansville Police Department because Pristine Auto Spa was based in Indianapolis.

[10] Cruse did not produce documentary evidence of the transaction, Facebook Messenger messages, or the case number of the case he allegedly opened with IMPD. He testified he “lost a lot of the records due to ․ losing some stuff in a storage unit” and did not have a digital copy of the transaction because he completed invoices “with pen and paper.” (Id. at 150-1.) He told the trial court he no longer had access to the messages on Facebook Messenger because he “shut down [his] Facebook[.]” (Id. at 151.)

[11] Lloyd Stephens, one of the two owners of Pristine Auto Spa, also testified. Stephens stated Pristine Auto Spa did “automotive detailing, cleaning, window tinting, paint protection film, [and] ceramic coating business.” (Id. at 30.) He testified Pristine Auto Spa also “put[ ] logos on trucks or vans” but he did not “farm that out” because he did not “trust anybody that is around us” to do the work and that type of work was “unprofitable.” (Id. at 41.) He testified he did not know Cruse, had not transacted business with him, and did not write the Check. He told the trial court that Pristine Auto Spa did not have a business account with Huntington Bank in 2022. He testified that, unlike the Check which included printed information, Pristine Auto Spa's checks were handwritten and had the name “Pristine Auto Detailing Indy LLC” which was the company's official name with the State of Indiana. (Id. at 40.)

[12] The jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts. On February 10, 2025, the trial court entered convictions for all three counts, but “merge[d]” the fraud and theft counts, entering a conviction of Level 5 felony fraud where the victim is a financial institution. (Id. at 241.) The trial court sentenced Cruse to four years suspended to probation and ordered him to pay $4,780 in restitution to Legence Bank.

Discussion and Decision

[13] Cruse contends the State did not present sufficient evidence to sustain his conviction because the State did not prove he intended to defraud Legence Bank. When faced with challenges to the sufficiency of evidence, we apply a “well settled” standard of review that leaves determination of the weight of the evidence and credibility of the witnesses to the fact-finder. Teising v. State, 226 N.E.3d 780, 783 (Ind. 2024). “We consider only the evidence most favorable to the trial court's ruling and will affirm a defendant's conviction unless ‘no reasonable fact-finder could find the elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Id. (quoting Jenkins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 268, 270 (Ind. 2000)).

[14] To prove Cruse committed Level 5 felony fraud on a financial institution, the State had to provide evidence that Cruse possessed, manufactured, used, or altered a document with the intent to obtain property to which he was not entitled and that the victim was a financial institution. Ind. Code § 35-43-5-4(c)(3). “A person engages in conduct ‘intentionally’ if, when he engages in the conduct, it is conscious objective to do so.” Ind. Code § 35-41-2-2(a). “Because intent is a mental state, the fact-finder often must ‘resort to the reasonable inferences based upon an examination of the surrounding circumstances to determine’ whether—from the person's conduct and the natural consequences therefrom—here is a showing or inference of the requisite criminal intent.” Diallo v. State, 928 N.E.2d 250, 253 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010). The intent to defraud “may be proven by circumstantial evidence and will often include the general conduct of the defendant when presenting the instrument for acceptance.” Williams v. State, 892 N.E.2d 666, 671 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008) (internal citations omitted), trans. denied. Cruse contends the State did not prove he had the intent to commit his crime because they did not present evidence that he knew the check was “not genuine[.]” (Br. of Appellant Vol. II at 10.) He contends he “believed the check was real” and was written as payment for “his work wrapping the truck.” (Id.)

[15] On February 18, 2022, Cruse presented the Check purported to be written by Pristine Auto Spa. At the time of his transaction, the TW Programming account was overdrawn and had been overdrawn seventy-one times. After he deposited the Check, Cruse immediately withdrew $2,000, completed ATM transactions for $500 a day on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday following his deposit, and spent $800 on his debit card, resulting in a balance of negative $5,184.86 in the TW Programming account. Legence Bank attempted to contact Cruse via the phone number and address listed on his account, but Cruse did not respond. Detective VanCleave attempted to contact Cruse through the information provided by Legence Bank, visited two other addresses associated with Cruse, and messaged him on Facebook Messenger. At one of the addresses, a vehicle matching the description of Cruse's vehicle was parked in the driveway, but no one answered the door.

[16] Cruse told the trial court that he received the Check from Pristine Auto Spa. He testified he completed a job for Pristine Auto Spa after being contacted by a representative of the company via Facebook Messenger, but he could provide no documentary evidence of the transaction or communication. Stephens, owner of Pristine Auto Spa, testified he did not know Cruse, did not enter into an agreement with Cruse, did not write Cruse the Check, and the company did not have an account at Huntington Bank at the relevant time.

[17] The jury was free to make reasonable inferences based on Cruse's conduct surrounding the incident. See Diallo, 928 N.E.2d at 253 (fact-finder can make reasonable inferences based on the evidence to determine intent). The evidence from the bank, Stephens, and Detective VanCleave supports an inference that Cruse intended to commit fraud on Legence Bank by presenting the Check, which was deemed to be fraudulent by all the evidence except Cruse's testimony pointed to fraud. Cruse's argument is an invitation for us to reweigh evidence and judge the credibility of witnesses, which we cannot do. Teising, 226 N.E.3d at 783 (appellate court will not reweigh evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses). Therefore, we conclude the State presented sufficient evidence to prove Cruse committed Level 5 felony fraud on a financial institution. See, e.g., Williams, 892 N.E.2d at 672 (sufficient evidence to support forgery conviction when trial court did not believe the circumstances under which Williams obtained the forged check).

Conclusion

[18] The State presented sufficient evidence to prove Cruse committed Level 5 felony fraud on a financial institution. Accordingly, we affirm.

[19] Affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Ind. Code § 35-43-5-4(c)(3).

2.   It is unclear from the record when Cruse opened the account, though he testified TW Programming became an LLC in 2021.

3.   Ind. Code § 35-43-5-2(b).

4.   Ind. Code § 35-43-4-2(a)(1).

May, Judge.

Judges Mathias and Bradford concur. Mathias, J., and Bradford, J., concur.