After a bench trial, Ronald Baker was convicted of theft by taking and sentenced to five years, to serve twelve months in confinement and the remainder on probation, with credit for time served. The trial court denied Baker’s motion for new trial, and Baker appeals, raising the general grounds. We affirm. On appeal from a bench trial resulting in a criminal conviction, we view all evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment of conviction, and the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence. We do not re-weigh testimony, determine witness credibility, or address assertions of conflicting evidence; our role is to determine whether the evidence presented is sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.1 Properly viewed, the record shows that Baker was an employee of Mizuno USA, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of sporting goods. He worked in the “raw materials cage,” a fenced-in area where components were stored prior to final assembly into sporting goods. Patricia Douglas, Mizuno’s director of human resources and general affairs, testified that Mizuno had experienced thefts from its raw materials cage; and that Mizuno had retained Norrad, a corporate security company, to conduct an investigation. Norrad assigned its employee Eustace Xavier to pose as a Mizuno employee and investigate the thefts. Xavier testified that he got to know Baker and that Baker arranged to take golf club heads from the Mizuno facility, sell them, and split the proceeds with Xavier. On the afternoon of September 13, 2002, Baker told Xavier that he had taken some items and hidden them, intending to pick them up later. That evening, Baker and Xavier returned to the Mizuno plant, where Baker retrieved two boxes from a trash bin, loaded them into the car, and took them back to Baker’s apartment. Baker opened one of the boxes, which contained 50 “Blue Rage” golf club heads. Baker then divided the club heads equally, keeping 25 for himself and giving 25 to Xavier as Xavier’s “share of the deal” for giving him a ride. Baker did not open the other box. He explained that it contained metal heads “for someone else.” Xavier left Baker’s apartment with the 25 club heads which were his “share” and turned them over to Philip Gallacher, Xavier’s Norrad supervisor. Baker was later arrested and charged with theft by taking. Baker testified at trial, denying that the events testified to by Xavier ever took place and asserting that he had never stolen anything from Mizuno.
Baker challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction for theft by taking. “A person commits the offense of theft by taking when he unlawfully takes or, being in lawful possession thereof, unlawfully appropriates any property of another with the intention of depriving him of the property, regardless of the manner in which the property is taken or appropriated.”2 The evidence adduced at trial and summarized above, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, amply supports Baker’s conviction for theft by taking.
