A jury сonvicted defendant of possessing counterfeiting apparatus (Pen. Code, § 480 [subsequent undesignated section references are to this cоde]), possessing materials with intent to make a destructive device (§ 12312), and possessing an explosive device (Health & Saf. Code, § 12305). The jury also found dеfendant was armed with a firearm in the commission of these offenses. (§ 12022, subd. (a).)
Sentenced to state prison, defendant contends (1) the evidence is insuffiсient to support his conviction for possessing counterfeiting equipment, (2) the court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized pursuаnt to a search warrant (§ 1538.5), (3) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for possessing materials with the intent to make a destructive device, and (4) the information was improperly amended beyond the statute of limitations to charge him with possessing an explosive device. We shall аffirm. In the published part of the opinion we hold that the term “bills” used in section 480 includes “Federal Reserve notes.”
Facts
On May 23, 1990, pursuant to a warrant, officers sеarched defendant’s residence in Shingletown. In a loft they found a color photocopy machine and photocopies of Federal Reserve notes in $20 and $100 denominations. Some of the notes had been altered to display pornographic pictures. On the floor of the loft the officers found a plastic bag containing fireworks and other pyrotechnic devices. On a table in the loft they found a six-inch length of “PVC” piрe with black electrical tape wrapped around one end. Also on the table were wax plugs, one of which had a “hobby fuse” through it. On a shelf downstairs, they found a bullet casing containing a blasting cap. They also found numerous firearms in the residence.
Shasta County Deputy Sheriff Ricky Slocum, an еxpert in explosive devices, testified the defendant possessed the materials found in the loft for the purpose of making a pipe bomb.
Frаnk Quigley, a United States Secret Service agent specializing in counterfeit currency, testified that some of the bills were passable. Because of the reproduction techniques used in practice runs, coupled with attempts to change the serial numbers, Quigley believed the defendant meant to pass the bills.
A few days after the search of defendant’s residence, California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Bond served defendant with assеt forfeiture papers.
Defendant testified, admitting he photocopied the Federal Reserve notes, but claimed his purpose was to make play money for his children. He made the pornographic bills as a joke for himself and his friends. Defendant claimed he was unaware of the nature of the blasting cap.
Discussion
I
Section 480 provides: “Every person who makes, or knowingly has in his possession any die, plate, or any apparatus, paper, metal, machine, or other thing whatever, madе use of in counterfeiting coin current in this state, or in counterfeiting gold dust, gold or silver bars, bullion, lumps, pieces, or nuggets, or in counterfeiting bank notes or bilb, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years; and all such dies, plates, apparatus, paper, metal, or machine, intended for the purpose aforesaid, must be destroyed.” (Italics added.)
In addition to instructing the jury on the elements they must find in order to convict defendant of this offense, the court instructed the jury that “As used in these instructions, the words ‘bank notes’ or ‘bills’ include Federal Reserve notes.”
Defendant contends the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction of violating section 480 because the statute does not prohibit counterfeiting Federal Reserve notes. Hе argues the phrase “bank notes or bills” does not include Federal Reserve notes. If defendant is correct, then the evidence is insufficient to suрport his conviction under this section because the only evidence offered was that he counterfeited Federal Reserve notes. Additiоnally, if defendant is correct, the court erred by instructing the jury that “bank notes or bills” include Federal Reserve notes. However, defendant is not corrеct in either assertion.
Since section 480 does not expressly prohibit counterfeiting of Federal Reserve notes, our task is one of statutory сonstruction. We conclude that the term “bills” does include Federal Reserve notes, and therefore the evidence is sufficient to support defendant’s conviction under section 480.
In construing a statute, “. . . our primary task is to ascertain legislative intent, giving the words of the statute their ordinary meaning. [Citations.] The words, however, must be read in context, considering the nature
As originally enacted in 1872, section 480 was identical to its present form exceрt for the triad term of imprisonment.
(People
v.
Clark
(1992)
The term “bills” as used in section 480 refers to “our paper currency.”
(People
v.
Bedilion
(1962)
Additional support for this construction of section 480 follows from other well-established rules: “In interpreting legislative enactments, ‘we indulge in a presumption that constitutional and legislative provisions were not intended to produce unreasonable results. [Citation.]’
(Barber
v.
Blue
(1966)
The issuance of “bank notes or bills is generally forbidden private banks and ‘bills,’ our paper currency, are issued only by the Federal Reservе banks.”
(People
v.
Bedilion, supra,
For the foregoing reasons, we construe section 480’s use of the term “bills” to include Federal Reserve notes, and consequently find the evidence substantiаlly supports defendant’s conviction for this offense.
II-IV *
Disposition
The judgment is affirmed.
Raye, J., and Brown, J., concurred.
A petition for a rehearing was denied April 2, 1996, and appellant’s petition for review by the Suрreme Court was denied May 22, 1996. Brown, J., did not participate therein.
Notes
Section 411 provides: “Federal reserve notes, to be issued at the discretion оf the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for the purpose of making advances to Federal reserve banks through the Federal reserve agents as hereinafter set forth and for no other purpose, are authorized. The said notes shall be obligations of the United States and shall be receivable by all national and member banks and Federal reserve banks and for all taxes, customs, and other public dues. They shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of the United States, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, or at any Federal Reserve bank.”
See footnote 1, ante, page 1718.