Thanks to Mike Avanesian for this:
People v. Acosta
California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3 (Ikola, J.)
May 12, 2014
2014 WL 1878105
Penal Code section 502.5 defines larceny to include a defaulted or foreclosed borrower’s stripping a house of its fixtures or destroying them with intent to harm the lender or buyer at the foreclosure sale. Though the statute was enacted 91 years ago, this is the first decision interpreting it. The borrowers were real estate brokers and they thoroughly trashed a very high-end house, carting away kitchen appliances, destroying the pool, stripping rock facing off the house, and more. They were convicted and sentenced to 5 years probation including 270 days of actual imprisonment. The decision upholds the constitutionality of the statute as well as the conviction and most of the conditions of probation.