This criminal appeal arises from a 53 count indictment. Albert Lawrence Saxon and Sherry Busby were charged with criminal RICO Count 1, entering an automobile with intent to commit theft Counts 2-13, financial transaction card theft Count 14, financial transaction card fraud Counts 15-16, and forgery in the first degree Counts 17-49. Each was charged separately with making a false statement. Counts 50, 51 Saxon was also charged in separate counts with forgery in the first degree. Counts 52, 53. The charges arose out of a series of car break-ins that occurred between February 17 and May 15, 1998, when the women victims temporarily exited their cars to carry their children into or pick them up from day care or school. Numerous purses were stolen, and many checks taken from the purses were used almost immediately after the break-ins. Saxon and Busby were apprehended after the police received a call concerning a car believed to have been involved in thefts on school property. Saxon was driving the car, and Busby was a passenger. Saxon was convicted of the RICO charge Count 1, making a false statement Count 51, and both counts of forgery Counts 52-53. His motion for new trial as amended was denied, and he appeals, raising several contentions. We find no reversible error, and we affirm. Construed in favor of the jury’s verdict, the record shows that approximately two weeks after Saxon and Busby were arrested, Saxon made a statement to Detective Ronnie Carter, then an investigator with the Savannah Police Department. Carter testified that he drove Saxon “to particular locations and let him describe what happened at those areas.” The statement was captured on audiotape and played for the jury. Saxon recounted to Carter the manner in which he became involved with Busby. He stated that Busby “had been doing daycares with another person” and later “talked me into doing it.” He explained that Busby targeted daycare centers “because the cars were unlocked and . . . it was an easy way to get money.” After Busby stole a purse, she and Saxon would immediately go to a bank, where Busby “would present the ID and forge the check.” They also purchased items from retail stores and sold those items to drug dealers.
Saxon admitted that he accompanied Busby when she broke into vehicles at three specific daycare centers. He acknowledged that he had done this “so many times” that he could not remember where he was when particular cars were broken into. He credited his lack of memory to the fact that “during the time we were breakin’ into those vehicles, we were intoxicated on cocaine and were just trying to get money for our next fix.” He stated that he was not with Busby every time she broke into a vehicle but also that he “was with her most of the time.”
