People v. Puleo

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE SULLIVAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

After a bench trial, defendant was convicted of theft by deception and received a sentence of 2 to 6 years. On appeal, he contends that (1) he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) there was a fatal variance between the offense charged and the proof at trial; and (3) the trial court improperly denied him a preliminary hearing.

The testimony at trial disclosed that a man identifying himself as Mike Spracht informed Andrew F. Maletich, Jr., that he had television sets for sale, and a few days later he telephoned…