Tony Lamont Pugh v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 1299161

On Oct. 8, 2013, Tony Lamont Pugh cashed a $1,376.12 check at Walmart made out to him and purporting to be from "Bbissette’s Concrete Co."; Walmart employee recorded his ID and cashed the check.
The named payor did not exist; the check drew on a PNC account belonging to Hair Salon LP, whose owner reported the item as fraudulent after seeing an unauthorized withdrawal.
Walmart surveillance identified Pugh as the person who cashed the check; police later arrested him on unrelated warrants.
Pugh testified he sold a car via Craigslist, that an unnamed buyer paid him with the check in Walmart parking lot, and that he transferred title to "Iris Nicole Carver" two days later; he offered no corroborating evidence (no buyer name, texts, Craigslist post, or surveillance of the alleged meeting).
A jury convicted Pugh of obtaining money by false pretenses, forgery, uttering a forged instrument, and identity theft; the trial court imposed concurrent two-year terms for each conviction (total active eight years). Appellate issues: sufficiency of intent evidence and admissibility of a bank check image over a best-evidence objection.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency: whether Commonwealth proved intent to defraud	Commonwealth: possession and cashing of the forged check plus corroborating facts support inferred intent	Pugh: he innocently received the check as vehicle sale payment from a buyer; no intent to defraud	Held: Evidence sufficed — prima facie presumption from possession not rebutted; jury reasonably disbelieved Pugh and inferred intent to defraud
Best-evidence: admissibility of bank's check image	Commonwealth: image admissible as duplicate/original and not challenged for accuracy	Pugh: image lacked Rule 2:1003(b) legend and should be excluded under best-evidence rule	Held: Trial court did not abuse discretion; Rule 2:1003 governs "substitute checks" but absence of exact legend only affects presumption; copy was admissible and accuracy was not disputed

Thomas v. Commonwealth, 279 Va. 131 (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence)
Walker v. Commonwealth, 25 Va. App. 50 (possession of forged instrument by payee creates prima facie evidence of forgery or procurement)
Fitzgerald v. Commonwealth, 227 Va. 171 (prima facie showing warrants jury submission but is rebuttable)
Marable v. Commonwealth, 27 Va. App. 505 (jury may disbelieve self-serving testimony of accused)
Allocca v. Allocca, 23 Va. App. 571 (photocopy may be treated as duplicate original when accuracy not disputed)