PEOPLE v. MAZYCK (2021)

Judgment of conviction (Lyle E. Frank, J.), rendered December 12, 2016, affirmed.

Since defendant waived prosecution by information, the accusatory instrument only had to satisfy the reasonable cause requirement of a misdemeanor complaint (see People v Dumay, 23 NY3d 518, 522 [2014]). So viewed, the instrument was jurisdictionally valid because it described facts of an evidentiary nature establishing reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of petit larceny (see Penal Law § 155.25). The instrument recited that a few minutes after complainant accidently left her laptop in a particular room at a specified location, video surveillance showed defendant, an employee at the location, entering and exiting that then-unoccupied room, and then entering the employee locker room with “an outline of a laptop ․ clearly visible under his shirt.” Contrary to defendant's present contention, these allegations and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from them were sufficient for pleading purposes to establish that defendant “exercised dominion and control over the property for a period of time, however temporary, in a manner wholly inconsistent with the owner's continued rights,” thereby satisfying the “taking” element of the offense (People v Jennings, 69 NY2d 103, 118 [1986]; see People v Olivo, 52 NY2d 309, 317-318 [1981]; People v Livingston, 150 AD3d 448 [2017], lv denied 29 NY3d 1093 [2017]).

Per Curiam.

All concur.