13.1: Types of Theft

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George Cartwright
Madera Community College

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Definition of Theft

Theft is defined in section 484 of the California Penal Code.

(a) Every person who shall feloniously steal, take, carry, lead, or drive away the personal property of another, or who shall fraudulently appropriate property which has been entrusted to him or her, or who shall knowingly and designedly, by any false or fraudulent representation or pretense, defraud any other person of money, labor or real or personal property, or who causes or procures others to report falsely of his or her wealth or mercantile character and by thus imposing upon any person, obtains credit and thereby fraudulently gets or obtains possession of money, or property or obtains the labor or service of another, is guilty of theft.

In determining the value of the property obtained, for the purposes of this section, the reasonable and fair market value shall be the test, and in determining the value of services received the contract price shall be the test. If there is no contract price, the reasonable and going wage for the service rendered shall govern.

For the purposes of this section, any false or fraudulent representation or pretense made shall be treated as continuing, so as to cover any money, property or service received as a result thereof, and the complaint, information or indictment may charge that the crime was committed on any date during the particular period in question. The hiring of any additional employee or employees without advising each of them of every labor claim due and unpaid and every judgment that the employer has been unable to meet shall be prima facie evidence of intent to defraud.

Classifications of Theft

Grand Theft

The crime of grand theft is defined in section 487 of the California Penal Code.

Grand theft is theft committed in any of the following cases:

(a) When the money, labor, real property, or personal property taken is of a value exceeding nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), except as provided in subdivision (b).

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), grand theft is committed in any of the following cases: (1) (A) When domestic fowls, avocados, olives, citrus or deciduous fruits, other fruits, vegetables, nuts, artichokes, or other farm crops are taken of a value exceeding two hundred fifty dollars ($250).

(B) For the purposes of establishing that the value of domestic fowls, avocados, olives, citrus or deciduous fruits, other fruits, vegetables, nuts, artichokes, or other farm crops under this paragraph exceeds two hundred fifty dollars ($250), that value may be shown by the presentation of credible evidence which establishes that on the day of the theft domestic fowls, avocados, olives, citrus or deciduous fruits, other fruits, vegetables, nuts, artichokes, or other farm crops of the same variety and weight exceeded two hundred fifty dollars ($250) in wholesale value.

(2) When fish, shellfish, mollusks, crustaceans, kelp, algae, or other aquacultural products are taken from a commercial or research operation which is producing that product, of a value exceeding two hundred fifty dollars ($250).

(3) Where the money, labor, real property, or personal property is taken by a servant, agent, or employee from their principal or employer and aggregates nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) or more in any 12 consecutive month period.

(d) When the property taken is any of the following:

(1) An automobile.

(2) A firearm.

(e) If the value of the money, labor, real property, or personal property taken exceeds nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) over the course of distinct but related acts, the value of the money, labor, real property, or personal property taken may properly be aggregated to charge a count of grand theft, if the acts are motivated by one intention, one general impulse, and one plan.¹⁰²

Shoplifting

The crime of shoplifting is defined in section 459.5 of the California Penal Code.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 459, shoplifting is defined as entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular business hours, where the value of the property that is taken or intended to be taken does not exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950). Any other entry into a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny is burglary. Shoplifting shall be punished as a misdemeanor, except that a person with one or more prior convictions for an offense specified in clause (iv) of subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 667 or for an offense requiring registration pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 290 may be punished pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.

(b) Any act of shoplifting as defined in subdivision (a) shall be charged as shoplifting. No person who is charged with shoplifting may also be charged with burglary or theft of the same property.¹³³

Pineville Police Sergeant Kills Unarmed Shoplifting Suspect

The Pineville Police Department (PPD) on Wednesday afternoon released its version of events in an incident that saw an off-duty PPD sergeant shoot and kill an unarmed man suspected of shoplifting on the border of Pineville and Charlotte Tuesday afternoon.

Pineville Police confirmed that the officer was in uniform, working security in the McMullen Creek Market shopping center in Pineville when he engaged with a man who was believed to be shoplifting from a Food Lion in the nearby Johnston Road Plaza.

According to the department, the unnamed sergeant first confronted the man, identified as 46year-old Dennis Bodden, in the parking lot, where Bodden allegedly refused to stop before crossing Johnston Road to the Berkshire Place apartments in Charlotte, where a physical confrontation occurred. The sergeant reportedly used his Taser on Bodden, who continued to walk away. A back-up Pineville Police officer then arrived and reportedly used his Taser as well, which had “little to no effect on Bodden,” according to the release.

According to the Pineville Police Department statement, “[Bodden] lunged towards our sergeant and tried to grab his service weapon, ending up with the use of deadly force.” The department states that Bodden was well known to Pineville Police officers as a “chronic shoplifting suspect” from that Food Lion specifically and for having “violent tendencies towards police and the public.” PPD’s familiarity with Bodden has caused some community members to question whether more could have been done to de-escalate the situation, especially considering the nonviolent nature of the original call.

Pineville Police have not said whether the sergeant who shot Bodden was wearing a body camera, which could confirm the threat that the sergeant claims he faced. PPD officers do wear body-worn cameras while on duty, which means the back-up officer who arrived before the shooting was likely wearing one. Robert Dawkins with community advocacy and police accountability organization Action NC said he will be pushing for the release of any footage of the incident in the coming week.

“If the police department can set conditions around police serving as security off-duty, one of those should be on wearing body-worn cameras,” Dawkins told Queen City Nerve.

Because the killing occurred in Charlotte, CMPD is leading the criminal homicide investigation, while PPD says it is overseeing its own internal/administrative investigation. Because the sergeant was off-duty at the time of the killing, the NC State Bureau of Investigation will not lead an investigation into the incident.¹⁰³

Petty Theft

The crime of petty theft is defined in section 490.1 of the California Penal Code.

(a) Petty theft, where the value of the money, labor, real or personal property taken is of a value which does not exceed fifty dollars ($50), may be charged as a misdemeanor or an infraction, at the discretion of the prosecutor, provided that the person charged with the offense has no other theft or theft-related conviction.

(b) Any offense charged as an infraction under this section shall be subject to the provisions of subdivision (d) of Section 17 and Sections 19.6 and 19.7.

A violation which is an infraction under this section is punishable by a fine not exceeding two hundred fifty dollars ($250).¹⁰⁴

Miscellaneous Thefts

The crime of theft of copper material is defined in section 487j of the California Penal Code. Every person who steals, takes, or carries away copper materials of another, including, but not limited to, copper wire, copper cable, copper tubing, and copper piping, which are of a value exceeding nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) is guilty of grand theft. Grand theft of copper shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 and a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000).¹³⁶

Impact of Copper Wire Theft

Copper wire thefts have also become increasingly common in the US. With copper prices at $3.70 a pound as of June 2007, compared to $0.60 a pound in 2002, people have been increasingly stealing copper wire from telephone and power company assets. People have even been injured and killed in power plants while trying to obtain copper wire. Other sources of stolen copper include railroad signal lines, grounding bars at electric substations, and even a 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) bell stolen from a Buddhist temple in Tacoma, Washington, which was later recovered.

For example, Georgia, like many other states, has seen enough copper crime that a special task force has been created to fight it. The Metro Atlanta Copper Task Force is led by the Atlanta Police Department and involves police and recyclers from surrounding metro areas, Georgia Power, and the Fulton County District Attorney's office.

Many states around the nation have passed – or are exploring – legislation to combat the problem. A new Georgia law took effect in July 2007 making it a crime to knowingly buy stolen metal. It allows prosecutors to prosecute for the actual cost of returning property to original conditions, as many of these thefts dramatically hurt the surrounding property value.¹⁰⁵

Defrauding an Innkeeper

The crime of defrauding the innkeeper is defined in section 537 of the California Penal Code.

(a) Any person who obtains any food, fuel, services, or accommodations at a hotel, inn, restaurant, boardinghouse, lodging house, apartment house, bungalow court, motel, marina, marine facility, auto camp, ski area, or public or private campground, without paying therefor, with intent to defraud the proprietor or manager thereof, or who obtains credit at an hotel, inn, restaurant, boardinghouse, lodging house, apartment house, bungalow court, motel, marina, marine facility, auto camp, or public or private campground by the use of any false pretense, or who, after obtaining credit, food, fuel, services, or accommodations, at an hotel, inn, restaurant, boardinghouse, lodging house, apartment house, bungalow court, motel, marina, marine facility, auto camp, or public or private campground, absconds, or surreptitiously, or by force, menace, or threats, removes any part of his or her baggage therefrom with the intent not to pay for his or her food or accommodations is guilty of a public offense punishable as follows: (1) If the value of the credit, food, fuel, services, or accommodations is nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) or less, by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding six months, or both.

(2) If the value of the credit, food, fuel, services, or accommodations is greater than nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), by imprisonment in a county jail for a term of not more than one year, or in the state prison.

Theft of a Shopping Cart

The crime of theft of a shopping cart is defined in section 22435.2 of the California Business and Professional Code.

Figure $\PageIndex{1}$: *A person in handcuffs holding money.^xviii*

¹⁰²California Penal Code (2024)

¹⁰³Pipkin (2024)

¹⁰⁴California Penal Code (2024)

¹⁰⁵Wikipedia

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