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CALIFORNIA PENAL CODE
SECTION 484 - 502.9
484. (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 be 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.
(b) (1) Except as provided in Section 10855 of the Vehicle Code,
where a person has leased or rented the personal property of another
person pursuant to a written contract, and that property has a value
greater than one thousand dollars ($1,000) and is not a commonly used
household item, intent to commit theft by fraud shall be rebuttably
presumed if the person fails to return the personal property to its
owner within 10 days after the owner has made written demand by
certified or registered mail following the expiration of the lease or
rental agreement for return of the property so leased or rented.
(2) Except as provided in Section 10855 of the Vehicle Code, where
a person has leased or rented the personal property of another
person pursuant to a written contract, and where the property has a
value no greater than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or where the
property is a commonly used household item, intent to commit theft by
fraud shall be rebuttably presumed if the person fails to return the
personal property to its owner within 20 days after the owner has
made written demand by certified or registered mail following the
expiration of the lease or rental agreement for return of the
property so leased or rented.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (b), if one
presents with criminal intent identification which bears a false or
fictitious name or address for the purpose of obtaining the lease or
rental of the personal property of another, the presumption created
herein shall apply upon the failure of the lessee to return the
rental property at the expiration of the lease or rental agreement,
and no written demand for the return of the leased or rented property
shall be required.
(d) The presumptions created by subdivisions (b) and (c) are
presumptions affecting the burden of producing evidence.
(e) Within 30 days after the lease or rental agreement has
expired, the owner shall make written demand for return of the
property so leased or rented. Notice addressed and mailed to the
lessee or renter at the address given at the time of the making of
the lease or rental agreement and to any other known address shall
constitute proper demand. Where the owner fails to make such written
demand the presumption created by subdivision (b) shall not apply.
484.1. (a) Any person who knowingly gives false information or
provides false verification as to the person's true identity or as to
the person's ownership interest in property or the person's
authority to sell property in order to receive money or other
valuable consideration from a pawnbroker or secondhand dealer and who
receives money or other valuable consideration from the pawnbroker
or secondhand dealer is guilty of theft.
(b) Upon conviction of the offense described in subdivision (a),
the court may require, in addition to any sentence or fine imposed,
that the defendant make restitution to the pawnbroker or secondhand
dealer in an amount not exceeding the actual losses sustained
pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (c) of Section 13967 of the
Government Code, as operative on or before September 28, 1994, if
the defendant is denied probation, or Section 1203.04, as operative
on or before August 2, 1995, if the defendant is granted probation or
Section 1202.4.
(c) Upon the setting of a court hearing date for sentencing of any
person convicted under this section, the probation officer, if one
is assigned, shall notify the pawnbroker or secondhand dealer or coin
dealer of the time and place of the hearing.
484b. Any person who receives money for the purpose of obtaining or
paying for services, labor, materials or equipment and willfully
fails to apply such money for such purpose by either willfully
failing to complete the improvements for which funds were provided or
willfully failing to pay for services, labor, materials or equipment
provided incident to such construction, and wrongfully diverts the
funds to a use other than that for which the funds were received,
shall be guilty of a public offense and shall be punishable by a
fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment
in the state prison, or in the county jail not exceeding one year,
or by both such fine and such imprisonment if the amount diverted is
in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000). If the amount diverted
is less than one thousand dollars ($1,000), the person shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor.
484c. Any person who submits a false voucher to obtain construction
loan funds and does not use the funds for the purpose for which the
claim was submitted is guilty of embezzlement.
484d. As used in this section and Sections 484e to 484j, inclusive:
(1) "Cardholder" means any person to whom an access card is issued
or any person who has agreed with the card issuer to pay obligations
arising from the issuance of an access card to another person.
(2) "Access card" means any card, plate, code, account number, or
other means of account access that can be used, alone or in
conjunction with another access card, to obtain money, goods,
services, or any other thing of value, or that can be used to
initiate a transfer of funds, other than a transfer originated solely
by a paper instrument.
(3) "Expired access card" means an access card which shows on its
face it has elapsed.
(4) "Card issuer" means any person who issues an access card or
the agent of that person with respect to that card.
(5) "Retailer" means every person who is authorized by an issuer
to furnish money, goods, services, or anything else of value upon
presentation of an access card by a cardholder.
(6) An access card is "incomplete" if part of the matter other
than the signature of the cardholder which an issuer requires to
appear on the access card before it can be used by a cardholder has
not been stamped, embossed, imprinted, or written on it.
(7) "Revoked access card" means an access card which is no longer
authorized for use by the issuer, that authorization having been
suspended or terminated and written notice thereof having been given
to the cardholder.
(8) "Counterfeit access card" means any access card that is
counterfeit, fictitious, altered, or forged, or any false
representation or depiction of an access card or a component thereof.
(9) "Traffic" means to transfer or otherwise dispose of property
to another, or to obtain control of property with intent to transfer
or dispose of it to another.
(10) "Card making equipment" means any equipment, machine, plate,
mechanism, impression, or other device designed, used, or intended to
be used to produce an access card.
484e. (a) Every person who, with intent to defraud, sells,
transfers, or conveys, an access card, without the cardholder's or
issuer's consent, is guilty of grand theft.
(b) Every person, other than the issuer, who within any
consecutive 12-month period, acquires access cards issued in the
names of four or more persons which he or she has reason to know were
taken or retained under circumstances which constitute a violation
of subdivision (a), (c), or (d) is guilty of grand theft.
(c) Every person who, with the intent to defraud, acquires or
retains possession of an access card without the cardholder's or
issuer's consent, with intent to use, sell, or transfer it to a
person other than the cardholder or issuer is guilty of petty theft.
(d) Every person who acquires or retains possession of access card
account information with respect to an access card validly issued to
another person, without the cardholder's or issuer's consent, with
the intent to use it fraudulently, is guilty of grand theft.
484f. (a) Every person who, with the intent to defraud, designs,
makes, alters, or embosses a counterfeit access card or utters or
otherwise attempts to use a counterfeit access card is guilty of
forgery.
(b) A person other than the cardholder or a person authorized by
him or her who, with the intent to defraud, signs the name of another
or of a fictitious person to an access card, sales slip, sales
draft, or instrument for the payment of money which evidences an
access card transaction, is guilty of forgery.
484g. Every person who, with the intent to defraud, (a) uses, for
the purpose of obtaining money, goods, services, or anything else of
value, an access card or access card account information that has
been altered, obtained, or retained in violation of Section 484e or
484f, or an access card which he or she knows is forged, expired, or
revoked, or (b) obtains money, goods, services, or anything else of
value by representing without the consent of the cardholder that he
or she is the holder of an access card and the card has not in fact
been issued, is guilty of theft. If the value of all money, goods,
services, and other things of value obtained in violation of this
section exceeds four hundred dollars ($400) in any consecutive
six-month period, then the same shall constitute grand theft.
484h. Every retailer or other person who, with intent to defraud:
(a) Furnishes money, goods, services or anything else of value
upon presentation of an access card obtained or retained in violation
of Section 484e or an access card which he or she knows is a
counterfeit access card or is forged, expired, or revoked, and who
receives any payment therefor, is guilty of theft. If the payment
received by the retailer or other person for all money, goods,
services, and other things of value furnished in violation of this
section exceeds four hundred dollars ($400) in any consecutive
six-month period, then the same shall constitute grand theft.
(b) Presents for payment a sales slip or other evidence of an
access card transaction, and receives payment therefor, without
furnishing in the transaction money, goods, services, or anything
else of value that is equal in value to the amount of the sales slip
or other evidence of an access card transaction, is guilty of theft.
If the difference between the value of all money, goods, services,
and anything else of value actually furnished and the payment or
payments received by the retailer or other person therefor upon
presentation of a sales slip or other evidence of an access card
transaction exceeds four hundred dollars ($400) in any consecutive
six-month period, then the same shall constitute grand theft.
484i. (a) Every person who possesses an incomplete access card,
with intent to complete it without the consent of the issuer, is
guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) Every person who, with the intent to defraud, makes, alters,
varies, changes, or modifies access card account information on any
part of an access card, including information encoded in a magnetic
stripe or other medium on the access card not directly readable by
the human eye, or who authorizes or consents to alteration, variance,
change, or modification of access card account information by
another, in a manner that causes transactions initiated by that
access card to be charged or billed to a person other than the
cardholder to whom the access card was issued, is guilty of forgery.
(c) Every person who designs, makes, possesses, or traffics in
card making equipment or incomplete access cards with the intent that
the equipment or cards be used to make counterfeit access cards, is
punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one
year, or by imprisonment in the state prison.
484j. Any person who publishes the number or code of an existing,
canceled, revoked, expired or nonexistent access card, personal
identification number, computer password, access code, debit card
number, bank account number, or the numbering or coding which is
employed in the issuance of access cards, with the intent that it be
used or with knowledge or reason to believe that it will be used to
avoid the payment of any lawful charge, or with intent to defraud or
aid another in defrauding, is guilty of a misdemeanor. As used in
this section, "publishes" means the communication of information to
any one or more persons, either orally, in person or by telephone,
radio or television, or on a computer network or computer bulletin
board, or in a writing of any kind, including without limitation a
letter or memorandum, circular or handbill, newspaper or magazine
article, or book.
485. One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him
knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who
appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another
person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just
efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is
guilty of theft.
486. Theft is divided into two degrees, the first of which is
termed grand theft; the second, petty theft.
487. Grand theft is theft committed in any of the following cases:
(a) When the money, labor, or real or personal property taken is
of a value exceeding four hundred dollars ($400), 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 one hundred dollars ($100).
(B) For the purposes of establishing that the value of avocados or
citrus fruit under this paragraph exceeds one hundred dollars
($100), that value may be shown by the presentation of credible
evidence which establishes that on the day of the theft avocados or
citrus fruit of the same variety and weight exceeded one hundred
dollars ($100) 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 one
hundred dollars ($100).
(3) Where the money, labor, or real or personal property is taken
by a servant, agent, or employee from his or her principal or
employer and aggregates four hundred dollars ($400) or more in any 12
consecutive month period.
(c) When the property is taken from the person of another.
(d) When the property taken is any of the following:
(1) An automobile, horse, mare, gelding, any bovine animal, any
caprine animal, mule, jack, jenny, sheep, lamb, hog, sow, boar, gilt,
barrow, or pig.
(2) A firearm.
(e) This section shall become operative on January 1, 1997.
487a. (a) Every person who shall feloniously steal, take, transport
or carry the carcass of any bovine, caprine, equine, ovine, or suine
animal or of any mule, jack or jenny, which is the personal property
of another, or who shall fraudulently appropriate such property
which has been entrusted to him, is guilty of grand theft.
(b) Every person who shall feloniously steal, take, transport, or
carry any portion of the carcass of any bovine, caprine, equine,
ovine, or suine animal or of any mule, jack, or jenny, which has been
killed without the consent of the owner thereof, is guilty of grand
theft.
487b. Every person who converts real estate of the value of one
hundred dollars ($100) or more into personal property by severance
from the realty of another, and with felonious intent to do so,
steals, takes, and carries away such property is guilty of grand
theft and is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.
487c. Every person who converts real estate of the value of less
than one hundred dollars ($100) into personal property by severance
from the realty of another, and with felonious intent to do so
steals, takes, and carries away such property is guilty of petty
theft and is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not
more than one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars
($1,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.
487d. Every person who feloniously steals, takes, and carries away,
or attempts to take, steal, and carry from any mining claim, tunnel,
sluice, undercurrent, riffle box, or sulfurate machine, another's
gold dust, amalgam, or quicksilver is guilty of grand theft and is
punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.
487e. Every person who feloniously steals, takes, or carries away a
dog of another which is of a value exceeding four hundred dollars
($400) is guilty of grand theft.
487f. Every person who feloniously steals, takes, or carries away a
dog of another which is of a value not exceeding four hundred
dollars ($400) is guilty of petty theft.
487g. Every person who steals or maliciously takes or carries away
any animal of another for purposes of sale, medical research,
slaughter, or other commercial use, or who knowingly, by any false
representation or pretense, defrauds another person of any animal for
purposes of sale, medical research, slaughter, or other commercial
use is guilty of a public offense punishable by imprisonment in a
county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison.
488. Theft in other cases is petty theft.
489. Grand theft is punishable as follows:
(a) When the grand theft involves the theft of a firearm, by
imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, 2, or 3 years.
(b) In all other cases, by imprisonment in a county jail not
exceeding one year or in the state prison.
490. Petty theft is punishable by fine not exceeding one thousand
dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding
six months, or both.
490a. Wherever any law or statute of this state refers to or
mentions larceny, embezzlement, or stealing, said law or statute
shall hereafter be read and interpreted as if the word "theft" were
substituted therefor.
490.1. (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).
490.5. (a) Upon a first conviction for petty theft involving
merchandise taken from a merchant's premises or a book or other
library materials taken from a library facility, a person shall be
punished by a mandatory fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) and
not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each such violation;
and may also be punished by imprisonment in the county jail, not
exceeding six months, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(b) When an unemancipated minor's willful conduct would constitute
petty theft involving merchandise taken from a merchant's premises
or a book or other library materials taken from a library facility,
any merchant or library facility who has been injured by that conduct
may bring a civil action against the parent or legal guardian having
control and custody of the minor. For the purposes of those actions
the misconduct of the unemancipated minor shall be imputed to the
parent or legal guardian having control and custody of the minor.
The parent or legal guardian having control or custody of an
unemancipated minor whose conduct violates this subdivision shall be
jointly and severally liable with the minor to a merchant or to a
library facility for damages of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor
more than five hundred dollars ($500), plus costs. In addition to
the foregoing damages, the parent or legal guardian shall be jointly
and severally liable with the minor to the merchant for the retail
value of the merchandise if it is not recovered in a merchantable
condition, or to a library facility for the fair market value of its
book or other library materials. Recovery of these damages may be
had in addition to, and is not limited by, any other provision of law
which limits the liability of a parent or legal guardian for the
tortious conduct of a minor. An action for recovery of damages,
pursuant to this subdivision, may be brought in small claims court if
the total damages do not exceed the jurisdictional limit of that
court, or in any other appropriate court; however, total damages,
including the value of the merchandise or book or other library
materials, shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500) for each
action brought under this section.
The provisions of this subdivision are in addition to other civil
remedies and do not limit merchants or other persons to elect to
pursue other civil remedies, except that the provisions of Section
1714.1 of the Civil Code shall not apply herein.
(c) When an adult or emancipated minor has unlawfully taken
merchandise from a merchant's premises, or a book or other library
materials from a library facility, the adult or emancipated minor
shall be liable to the merchant or library facility for damages of
not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars
($500), plus costs. In addition to the foregoing damages, the adult
or emancipated minor shall be liable to the merchant for the retail
value of the merchandise if it is not recovered in merchantable
condition, or to a library facility for the fair market value of its
book or other library materials. An action for recovery of damages,
pursuant to this subdivision, may be brought in small claims court if
the total damages do not exceed the jurisdictional limit of such
court, or in any other appropriate court. The provisions of this
subdivision are in addition to other civil remedies and do not limit
merchants or other persons to elect to pursue other civil remedies.
(d) In lieu of the fines prescribed by subdivision (a), any person
may be required to perform public services designated by the court,
provided that in no event shall any such person be required to
perform less than the number of hours of such public service
necessary to satisfy the fine assessed by the court as provided by
subdivision (a) at the minimum wage prevailing in the state at the
time of sentencing.
(e) All fines collected under this section shall be collected and
distributed in accordance with Sections 1463 and 1463.1 of the Penal
Code; provided, however, that a county may, by a majority vote of the
members of its board of supervisors, allocate any amount up to, but
not exceeding 50 percent of such fines to the county superintendent
of schools for allocation to local school districts. The fines
allocated shall be administered by the county superintendent of
schools to finance public school programs, which provide counseling
or other educational services designed to discourage shoplifting,
theft, and burglary. Subject to rules and regulations as may be
adopted by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, each county
superintendent of schools shall allocate such funds to school
districts within the county which submit project applications
designed to further the educational purposes of this section. The
costs of administration of this section by each county superintendent
of schools shall be paid from the funds allocated to the county
superintendent of schools.
(f) (1) A merchant may detain a person for a reasonable time for
the purpose of conducting an investigation in a reasonable manner
whenever the merchant has probable cause to believe the person to be
detained is attempting to unlawfully take or has unlawfully taken
merchandise from the merchant's premises.
A theater owner may detain a person for a reasonable time for the
purpose of conducting an investigation in a reasonable manner
whenever the theater owner has probable cause to believe the person
to be detained is attempting to operate a video recording device
within the premises of a motion picture theater without the authority
of the owner of the theater.
A person employed by a library facility may detain a person for a
reasonable time for the purpose of conducting an investigation in a
reasonable manner whenever the person employed by a library facility
has probable cause to believe the person to be detained is attempting
to unlawfully remove or has unlawfully removed books or library
materials from the premises of the library facility.
(2) In making the detention a merchant, theater owner, or a person
employed by a library facility may use a reasonable amount of
nondeadly force necessary to protect himself or herself and to
prevent escape of the person detained or the loss of tangible or
intangible property.
(3) During the period of detention any items which a merchant or
theater owner, or any items which a person employed by a library
facility has probable cause to believe are unlawfully taken from the
premises of the merchant or library facility, or recorded on theater
premises, and which are in plain view may be examined by the
merchant, theater owner, or person employed by a library facility for
the purposes of ascertaining the ownership thereof.
(4) A merchant, theater owner, a person employed by a library
facility, or an agent thereof, having probable cause to believe the
person detained was attempting to unlawfully take or has taken any
item from the premises, or was attempting to operate a video
recording device within the premises of a motion picture theater
without the authority of the owner of the theater, may request the
person detained to voluntarily surrender the item or recording.
Should the person detained refuse to surrender the recording or item
of which there is probable cause to believe has been recorded on or
unlawfully taken from the premises, or attempted to be recorded or
unlawfully taken from the premises, a limited and reasonable search
may be conducted by those authorized to make the detention in order
to recover the item. Only packages, shopping bags, handbags or other
property in the immediate possession of the person detained, but not
including any clothing worn by the person, may be searched pursuant
to this subdivision. Upon surrender or discovery of the item, the
person detained may also be requested, but may not be required, to
provide adequate proof of his or her true identity.
(5) If any person admitted to a theater in which a motion picture
is to be or is being exhibited, refuses or fails to give or surrender
possession or to cease operation of any video recording device that
the person has brought into or attempts to bring into that theater,
then a theater owner shall have the right to refuse admission to that
person or request that the person leave the premises and shall
thereupon offer to refund and, unless that offer is refused, refund
to that person the price paid by that person for admission to that
theater. If the person thereafter refuses to leave the theater or
cease operation of the video recording device, then the person shall
be deemed to be intentionally interfering with and obstructing those
attempting to carry on a lawful business within the meaning of
Section 602.1.
(6) A peace officer who accepts custody of a person arrested for
an offense contained in this section may, subsequent to the arrest,
search the person arrested and his or her immediate possessions for
any item or items alleged to have been taken.
(7) In any civil action brought by any person resulting from a
detention or arrest by a merchant, it shall be a defense to such
action that the merchant detaining or arresting such person had
probable cause to believe that the person had stolen or attempted to
steal merchandise and that the merchant acted reasonably under all
the circumstances.
In any civil action brought by any person resulting from a
detention or arrest by a theater owner or person employed by a
library facility, it shall be a defense to that action that the
theater owner or person employed by a library facility detaining or
arresting that person had probable cause to believe that the person
was attempting to operate a video recording device within the
premises of a motion picture theater without the authority of the
owner of the theater or had stolen or attempted to steal books or
library materials and that the person employed by a library facility
acted reasonably under all the circumstances.
(g) As used in this section:
(1) "Merchandise" means any personal property, capable of manual
delivery, displayed, held or offered for retail sale by a merchant.
(2) "Merchant" means an owner or operator, and the agent,
consignee, employee, lessee, or officer of an owner or operator, of
any premises used for the retail purchase or sale of any personal
property capable of manual delivery.
(3) "Theater owner" means an owner or operator, and the agent,
employee, consignee, lessee, or officer of an owner or operator, of
any premises used for the exhibition or performance of motion
pictures to the general public.
(4) The terms "book or other library materials" include any book,
plate, picture, photograph, engraving, painting, drawing, map,
newspaper, magazine, pamphlet, broadside, manuscript, document,
letter, public record, microform, sound recording, audiovisual
material in any format, magnetic or other tape, electronic
data-processing record, artifact, or other documentary, written or
printed material regardless of physical form or characteristics, or
any part thereof, belonging to, on loan to, or otherwise in the
custody of a library facility.
(5) The term "library facility" includes any public library; any
library of an educational, historical or eleemosynary institution,
organization or society; any museum; any repository of public
records.
(h) Any library facility shall post at its entrance and exit a
conspicuous sign to read as follows:
"IN ORDER TO PREVENT THE THEFT OF BOOKS AND LIBRARY MATERIALS,
STATE LAW AUTHORIZES THE DETENTION FOR A REASONABLE PERIOD OF ANY
PERSON USING THESE FACILITIES SUSPECTED OF COMMITTING "LIBRARY THEFT"
(PENAL CODE SECTION 490.5)."
490.6. (a) A person employed by an amusement park may detain a
person for a reasonable time for the purpose of conducting an
investigation in a reasonable manner whenever the person employed by
the amusement park has probable cause to believe the person to be
detained is violating lawful amusement park rules.
(b) If any person admitted to an amusement park refuses or fails
to follow lawful amusement park rules, after being so informed, then
an amusement park employee may request that the person either comply
or leave the premises. If the person refuses to leave the premises
or comply with lawful park rules, then the person shall be deemed to
be intentionally interfering with and obstructing those attempting to
carry on a lawful business within the meaning of Section 602.1.
(c) In any civil action brought by any person resulting from a
detention or an arrest by a person employed by an amusement park, it
shall be a defense to that action that the amusement park employee
detaining or arresting the person had probable cause to believe that
the person was not following lawful amusement park rules and that the
amusement park employee acted reasonably under all the
circumstances.
491. Dogs are personal property, and their value is to be
ascertained in the same manner as the value of other property.
492. If the thing stolen consists of any evidence of debt, or other
written instrument, the amount of money due thereupon, or secured to
be paid thereby, and remaining unsatisfied, or which in any
contingency might be collected thereon, or the value of the property
the title to which is shown thereby, or the sum which might be
recovered in the absence thereof, is the value of the thing stolen.
493. If the thing stolen is any ticket or other paper or writing
entitling or purporting to entitle the holder or proprietor thereof
to a passage upon any railroad or vessel or other public conveyance,
the price at which tickets entitling a person to a like passage are
usually sold by the proprietors of such conveyance is the value of
such ticket, paper, or writing.
494. All the provisions of this Chapter apply where the property
taken is an instrument for the payment of money, evidence of debt,
public security, or passage ticket, completed and ready to be issued
or delivered, although the same has never been issued or delivered by
the makers thereof to any person as a purchaser or owner.
495. The provisions of this Chapter apply where the thing taken is
any fixture or part of the realty, and is severed at the time of the
taking, in the same manner as if the thing had been severed by
another person at some previous time.
496. (a) Every person who buys or receives any property that has
been stolen or that has been obtained in any manner constituting
theft or extortion, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained,
or who conceals, sells, withholds, or aids in concealing, selling,
or withholding any property from the owner, knowing the property to
be so stolen or obtained, shall be punished by imprisonment in a
state prison, or in a county jail for not more than one year.
However, if the district attorney or the grand jury determines that
this action would be in the interests of justice, the district
attorney or the grand jury, as the case may be, may, if the value of
the property does not exceed four hundred dollars ($400), specify in
the accusatory pleading that the offense shall be a misdemeanor,
punishable only by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year.
A principal in the actual theft of the property may be convicted
pursuant to this section. However, no person may be convicted both
pursuant to this section and of the theft of the same property.
(b) Every swap meet vendor, as defined in Section 21661 of the
Business and Professions Code, and every person whose principal
business is dealing in, or collecting, merchandise or personal
property, and every agent, employee, or representative of that
person, who buys or receives any property of a value in excess of
four hundred dollars ($400) that has been stolen or obtained in any
manner constituting theft or extortion, under circumstances that
should cause the person, agent, employee, or representative to make
reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the person from whom the
property was bought or received had the legal right to sell or
deliver it, without making a reasonable inquiry, shall be punished by
imprisonment in a state prison, or in a county jail for not more
than one year.
Every swap meet vendor, as defined in Section 21661 of the
Business and Professions Code, and every person whose principal
business is dealing in, or collecting, merchandise or personal
property, and every agent, employee, or representative of that
person, who buys or receives any property of a value of four hundred
dollars ($400) or less that has been stolen or obtained in any manner
constituting theft or extortion, under circumstances that should
cause the person, agent, employee, or representative to make
reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the person from whom the
property was bought or received had the legal right to sell or
deliver it, without making a reasonable inquiry, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor.
(c) Any person who has been injured by a violation of subdivision
(a) or (b) may bring an action for three times the amount of actual
damages, if any, sustained by the plaintiff, costs of suit, and
reasonable attorney's fees.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 664, any attempt to commit any act
prohibited by this section, except an offense specified in the
accusatory pleading as a misdemeanor, is punishable by imprisonment
in the state prison, or in a county jail for not more than one year.
496a. (a) Every person who, being a dealer in or collector of junk,
metals or secondhand materials, or the agent, employee, or
representative of such dealer or collector, buys or receives any
wire, cable, copper, lead, solder, mercury, iron or brass which he
knows or reasonably should know is ordinarily used by or ordinarily
belongs to a railroad or other transportation, telephone, telegraph,
gas, water or electric light company or county, city, city and county
or other political subdivision of this state engaged in furnishing
public utility service without using due diligence to ascertain that
the person selling or delivering the same has a legal right to do so,
is guilty of criminally receiving such property, and is punishable,
by imprisonment in a state prison, or in a county jail for not more
than one year, or by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty
dollars ($250), or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(b) Any person buying or receiving material pursuant to
subdivision (a) shall obtain evidence of his identity from the seller
including, but not limited to, such person's full name, signature,
address, driver's license number, vehicle license number, and the
license number of the vehicle delivering the material.
The record of the transaction shall include an appropriate
description of the material purchased and such record shall be
maintained pursuant to Section 21607 of the Business and Professions
Code.
496b. Every person who, being a dealer in or collector of
second-hand books or other literary material, or the agent, employee
or representative of such dealer, or collector, buys or receives any
book, manuscript, map, chart, or other work of literature, belonging
to, and bearing any mark or indicia of ownership by a public or
incorporated library, college or university, without ascertaining by
diligent inquiry that the person selling or delivering the same has a
legal right to do so, is guilty of criminally receiving such
property in the first degree if such property be of the value of more
than fifty dollars, and is punishable by imprisonment in the county
jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twice
the value of the property received, or by both such fine and
imprisonment; and is guilty of criminally receiving such property in
the second degree if such property be of the value of fifty dollars
or under, and is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for
not more than one month, or by a fine of not more than twice the
value of the property received, or by both such fine and
imprisonment.
496c. Any person who shall copy, transcribe, photograph or
otherwise make a record or memorandum of the contents of any private
and unpublished paper, book, record, map or file, containing
information relating to the title to real property or containing
information used in the business of examining, certifying or insuring
titles to real property and belonging to any person, firm or
corporation engaged in the business of examining, certifying, or
insuring titles to real property, without the consent of the owner of
such paper, book, record, map or file, and with the intent to use
the same or the contents thereof, or to dispose of the same or the
contents thereof to others for use, in the business of examining,
certifying, or insuring titles to real property, shall be guilty of
theft, and any person who shall induce another to violate the
provisions of this section by giving, offering, or promising to such
another any gift, gratuity, or thing of value or by doing or
promising to do any act beneficial to such another, shall be guilty
of theft; and any person who shall receive or acquire from another
any copy, transcription, photograph or other record or memorandum of
the contents of any private and unpublished paper, book, record, map
or file containing information relating to the title to real property
or containing information used in the business of examining,
certifying or insuring titles to real property, with the knowledge
that the same or the contents thereof has or have been acquired,
prepared or compiled in violation of this section shall be guilty of
theft. The contents of any such private and unpublished paper, book,
record, map or file is hereby defined to be personal property, and
in determining the value thereof for the purposes of this section the
cost of aquiring and compiling the same shall be the test.
496d. (a) Every person who buys or receives any motor vehicle, as
defined in Section 415 of the Vehicle Code, any trailer, as defined
in Section 630 of the Vehicle Code, any special construction
equipment, as defined in Section 565 of the Vehicle Code, or any
vessel, as defined in Section 21 of the Harbors and Navigation Code,
that has been stolen or that has been obtained in any manner
constituting theft or extortion, knowing the property to be stolen or
obtained, or who conceals, sells, withholds, or aids in concealing,
selling, or withholding any motor vehicle, trailer, special
construction equipment, or vessel from the owner, knowing the
property to be so stolen or obtained, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or two or three years
or a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both,
or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year or a fine
of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the terms "special
construction equipment" and "vessel" are limited to motorized
vehicles and vessels.
497. Every person who, in another state or country steals or
embezzles the property of another, or receives such property knowing
it to have been stolen or embezzled, and brings the same into this
state, may be convicted and punished in the same manner as if such
larceny, or embezzlement, or receiving, had been committed in this
state.
498. (a) The following definitions govern the construction of this
section:
(1) "Person" means any individual, or any partnership, firm,
association, corporation, limited liability company, or other legal
entity.
(2) "Utility" means any electrical, gas, or water corporation as
those terms are defined in the Public Utilities Code, and electrical,
gas, or water systems operated by any political subdivision.
(3) "Customer" means the person in whose name utility service is
provided.
(4) "Utility service" means the provision of electricity, gas,
water, or any other service provided by the utility for compensation.
(5) "Divert" means to change the intended course or path of
electricity, gas, or water without the authorization or consent of
the utility.
(6) "Tamper" means to rearrange, injure, alter, interfere with, or
otherwise prevent from performing a normal or customary function.
(7) "Reconnection" means the reconnection of utility service by a
customer or other person after service has been lawfully disconnected
by the utility.
(b) Any person who, with intent to obtain for himself or herself
utility services without paying the full lawful charge therefor, or
with intent to enable another person to do so, or with intent to
deprive any utility of any part of the full lawful charge for utility
services it provides, commits, authorizes, solicits, aids, or abets
any of the following shall be guilty of a misdemeanor:
(1) Diverts or causes to be diverted utility services, by any
means whatsoever.
(2) Prevents any utility meter, or other device used in
determining the charge for utility services, from accurately
performing its measuring function by tampering or by any other means.
(3) Tampers with any property owned by or used by the utility to
provide utility services.
(4) Makes or causes to be made any connection with or reconnection
with property owned or used by the utility to provide utility
services without the authorization or consent of the utility.
(5) Uses or receives the direct benefit of all or a portion of
utility services with knowledge or reason to believe that the
diversion, tampering, or unauthorized connection existed at the time
of that use, or that the use or receipt was otherwise without the
authorization or consent of the utility.
(c) In any prosecution under this section, the presence of any of
the following objects, circumstances, or conditions on premises
controlled by the customer or by the person using or receiving the
direct benefit of all or a portion of utility services obtained in
violation of this section shall permit an inference that the customer
or person intended to and did violate this section:
(1) Any instrument, apparatus, or device primarily designed to be
used to obtain utility services without paying the full lawful charge
therefor.
(2) Any meter that has been altered, tampered with, or bypassed so
as to cause no measurement or inaccurate measurement of utility
services.
(d) If the value of all utility services obtained in violation of
this section totals more than four hundred dollars ($400) or if the
defendant has previously been convicted of an offense under this
section or any former section which would be an offense under this
section, or of an offense under the laws of another state or of the
United States which would have been an offense under this section if
committed in this state, then the violation is punishable by
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or in the
state prison.
(e) This section shall not be construed to preclude the
applicability of any other provision of the criminal law of this
state.
499. (a) Any person who, having been convicted of a previous
violation of Section 10851 of the Vehicle Code, or of subdivision (d)
of Section 487, involving a vehicle or vessel, and having served a
term therefor in any penal institution or having been imprisoned
therein as a condition of probation for the offense, is subsequently
convicted of a violation of Section 499b, involving a vehicle or
vessel, is punishable for the subsequent offense by imprisonment in
the county jail not exceeding one year or the state prison for 16
months, two, or three years.
(b) Any person convicted of a violation of Section 499b, who has
been previously convicted under charges separately brought and tried
two or more times of a violation of Section 499b, all such violations
involving a vehicle or vessel, and who has been imprisoned therefore
as a condition of probation or otherwise at least once, is
punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one
year or in the state prison for 16 months, two, or three years.
(c) This section shall become operative on January 1, 1997.
499b. Any person who shall, without the permission of the owner
thereof, take any bicycle or motorboat or vessel, for the purpose of
temporarily using or operating the same, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine
not exceeding four hundred dollars ($400), or by imprisonment not
exceeding three months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
499c. (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Access" means to approach, a way or means of approaching,
nearing, admittance to, including to instruct, communicate with,
store information in, or retrieve information from a computer system
or computer network.
(2) "Article" means any object, material, device, or substance or
copy thereof, including any writing, record, recording, drawing,
sample, specimen, prototype, model, photograph, micro-organism,
blueprint, map, or tangible representation of a computer program or
information, including both human and computer readable information
and information while in transit.
(3) "Benefit" means gain or advantage, or anything regarded by the
beneficiary as gain or advantage, including benefit to any other
person or entity in whose welfare he or she is interested.
(4) "Computer system" means a machine or collection of machines,
one or more of which contain computer programs and information, that
performs functions, including, but not limited to, logic, arithmetic,
information storage and retrieval, communications, and control.
(5) "Computer network" means an interconnection of two or more
computer systems.
(6) "Computer program" means an ordered set of instructions or
statements, and related information that, when automatically executed
in actual or modified form in a computer system, causes it to
perform specified functions.
(7) "Copy" means any facsimile, replica, photograph or other
reproduction of an article, and any note, drawing or sketch made of
or from an article.
(8) "Representing" means describing, depicting, containing,
constituting, reflecting or recording.
(9) "Trade secret" means information, including a formula,
pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process,
that:
(A) Derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from
not being generally known to the public or to other persons who can
obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and
(B) Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the
circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
(b) Every person is guilty of theft who, with intent to deprive or
withhold the control of a trade secret from its owner, or with an
intent to appropriate a trade secret to his or her own use or to the
use of another, does any of the following:
(1) Steals, takes, carries away, or uses without authorization, a
trade secret.
(2) Fraudulently appropriates any article representing a trade
secret entrusted to him or her.
(3) Having unlawfully obtained access to the article, without
authority makes or causes to be made a copy of any article
representing a trade secret.
(4) Having obtained access to the article through a relationship
of trust and confidence, without authority and in breach of the
obligations created by that relationship, makes or causes to be made,
directly from and in the presence of the article, a copy of any
article representing a trade secret.
(c) Every person who promises, offers or gives, or conspires to
promise or offer to give, to any present or former agent, employee or
servant of another, a benefit as an inducement, bribe or reward for
conveying, delivering or otherwise making available an article
representing a trade secret owned by his or her present or former
principal, employer or master, to any person not authorized by the
owner to receive or acquire the trade secret and every present or
former agent, employee, or servant, who solicits, accepts, receives
or takes a benefit as an inducement, bribe or reward for conveying,
delivering or otherwise making available an article representing a
trade secret owned by his or her present or former principal,
employer or master, to any person not authorized by the owner to
receive or acquire the trade secret, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison, or in a county jail not exceeding
one year, or by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000),
or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(d) In a prosecution for a violation of this section, it shall be
no defense that the person returned or intended to return the
article.
499d. Any person who operates or takes an aircraft not his own,
without the consent of the owner thereof, and with intent to either
permanently or temporarily deprive the owner thereof of his title to
or possession of such vehicle, whether with or without intent to
steal the same, or any person who is a party or accessory to or an
accomplice in any operation or unauthorized taking or stealing is
guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison, or in the county jail for not more
than one year or by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars
($10,000) or by both such fine and imprisonment.
500. (a) Any person who receives money for the actual or purported
purpose of transmitting the same or its equivalent to foreign
countries as specified in Section 1800.5 of the Financial Code who
fails to do at least one of the following acts unless otherwise
instructed by the customer is guilty of a misdemeanor or felony as
set forth in subdivision (b):
(1) Forward the money as represented to the customer within 10
days of receipt of the funds.
(2) Give instructions within 10 days of receipt of the customer's
funds, committing equivalent funds to the person designated by the
customer.
(3) Refund to the customer any money not forwarded as represented
within 10 days of the customer's written request for a refund
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1810.5 of the Financial Code.
(b) (1) If the total value of the funds received from the customer
is less than four hundred dollars ($400), the offense set forth in
subdivision (a) is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not
exceeding one year or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars
($1,000), or by both imprisonment and fine.
(2) If the total value of the money received from the customer is
four hundred dollars ($400) or more, or if the total value of all
moneys received by the person from different customers is four
hundred dollars ($400), or more and the receipts were part of a
common scheme or plan, the offense set forth in subdivision (a) is
punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, 2, or 3
years, by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by
both imprisonment and fine.
501. Upon a trial for larceny or embezzlement of money, bank notes,
certificates of stock, or valuable securities, the allegation of the
indictment or information, so far as regards the description of the
property, is sustained, if the offender be proved to have embezzled
or stolen any money, bank notes, certificates of stock, or valuable
security, although the particular species of coin or other money, or
the number, denomination, or kind of bank notes, certificates of
stock, or valuable security, is not proved; and upon a trial for
embezzlement, if the offender is proved to have embezzled any piece
of coin or other money, any bank note, certificate of stock, or
valuable security, although the piece of coin or other money, or bank
note, certificate of stock, or valuable security, may have been
delivered to him or her in order that some part of the value thereof
should be returned to the party delivering the same, and such part
shall have been returned accordingly.
502. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
section to expand the degree of protection afforded to individuals,
businesses, and governmental agencies from tampering, interference,
damage, and unauthorized access to lawfully created computer data and
computer systems. The Legislature finds and declares that the
proliferation of computer technology has resulted in a concomitant
proliferation of computer crime and other forms of unauthorized
access to computers, computer systems, and computer data.
The Legislature further finds and declares that protection of the
integrity of all types and forms of lawfully created computers,
computer systems, and computer data is vital to the protection of the
privacy of individuals as well as to the well-being of financial
institutions, business concerns, governmental agencies, and others
within this state that lawfully utilize those computers, computer
systems, and data.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Access" means to gain entry to, instruct, or communicate with
the logical, arithmetical, or memory function resources of a
computer, computer system, or computer network.
(2) "Computer network" means any system that provides
communications between one or more computer systems and input/output
devices including, but not limited to, display terminals and printers
connected by telecommunication facilities.
(3) "Computer program or software" means a set of instructions or
statements, and related data, that when executed in actual or
modified form, cause a computer, computer system, or computer network
to perform specified functions.
(4) "Computer services" includes, but is not limited to, computer
time, data processing, or storage functions, or other uses of a
computer, computer system, or computer network.
(5) "Computer system" means a device or collection of devices,
including support devices and excluding calculators that are not
programmable and capable of being used in conjunction with external
files, one or more of which contain computer programs, electronic
instructions, input data, and output data, that performs functions
including, but not limited to, logic, arithmetic, data storage and
retrieval, communication, and control.
(6) "Data" means a representation of information, knowledge,
facts, concepts, computer software, computer programs or
instructions. Data may be in any form, in storage media, or as
stored in the memory of the computer or in transit or presented on a
display device.
(7) "Supporting documentation" includes, but is not limited to,
all information, in any form, pertaining to the design, construction,
classification, implementation, use, or modification of a computer,
computer system, computer network, computer program, or computer
software, which information is not generally available to the public
and is necessary for the operation of a computer, computer system,
computer network, computer program, or computer software.
(8) "Injury" means any alteration, deletion, damage, or
destruction of a computer system, computer network, computer program,
or data caused by the access, or the denial of access to legitimate
users of a computer system, network, or program.
(9) "Victim expenditure" means any expenditure reasonably and
necessarily incurred by the owner or lessee to verify that a computer
system, computer network, computer program, or data was or was not
altered, deleted, damaged, or destroyed by the access.
(10) "Computer contaminant" means any set of computer instructions
that are designed to modify, damage, destroy, record, or transmit
information within a computer, computer system, or computer network
without the intent or permission of the owner of the information.
They include, but are not limited to, a group of computer
instructions commonly called viruses or worms, that are
self-replicating or self-propagating and are designed to contaminate
other computer programs or computer data, consume computer resources,
modify, destroy, record, or transmit data, or in some other fashion
usurp the normal operation of the computer, computer system, or
computer network.
(11) "Internet domain name" means a globally unique, hierarchical
reference to an Internet host or service, assigned through
centralized Internet naming authorities, comprising a series of
character strings separated by periods, with the rightmost character
string specifying the top of the hierarchy.
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (h), any person who commits
any of the following acts is guilty of a public offense:
(1) Knowingly accesses and without permission alters, damages,
deletes, destroys, or otherwise uses any data, computer, computer
system, or computer network in order to either (A) devise or execute
any scheme or artifice to defraud, deceive, or extort, or (B)
wrongfully control or obtain money, property, or data.
(2) Knowingly accesses and without permission takes, copies, or
makes use of any data from a computer, computer system, or computer
network, or takes or copies any supporting documentation, whether
existing or residing internal or external to a computer, computer
system, or computer network.
(3) Knowingly and without permission uses or causes to be used
computer services.
(4) Knowingly accesses and without permission adds, alters,
damages, deletes, or destroys any data, computer software, or
computer programs which reside or exist internal or external to a
computer, computer system, or computer network.
(5) Knowingly and without permission disrupts or causes the
disruption of computer services or denies or causes the denial of
computer services to an authorized user of a computer, computer
system, or computer network.
(6) Knowingly and without permission provides or assists in
providing a means of accessing a computer, computer system, or
computer network in violation of this section.
(7) Knowingly and without permission accesses or causes to be
accessed any computer, computer system, or computer network.
(8) Knowingly introduces any computer contaminant into any
computer, computer system, or computer network.
(9) Knowingly and without permission uses the Internet domain name
of another individual, corporation, or entity in connection with the
sending of one or more electronic mail messages, and thereby damages
or causes damage to a computer, computer system, or computer
network.
(d) (1) Any person who violates any of the provisions of paragraph
(1), (2), (4), or (5) of subdivision (c) is punishable by a fine not
exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the
state prison for 16 months, or two or three years, or by both that
fine and imprisonment, or by a fine not exceeding five thousand
dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding
one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(2) Any person who violates paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) is
punishable as follows:
(A) For the first violation that does not result in injury, and
where the value of the computer services used does not exceed four
hundred dollars ($400), by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars
($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(B) For any violation that results in a victim expenditure in an
amount greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or in an injury,
or if the value of the computer services used exceeds four hundred
dollars ($400), or for any second or subsequent violation, by a fine
not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in
the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years, or by both
that fine and imprisonment, or by a fine not exceeding five thousand
dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding
one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(3) Any person who violates paragraph (6) or (7) of subdivision
(c) is punishable as follows:
(A) For a first violation that does not result in injury, an
infraction punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars
($1,000).
(B) For any violation that results in a victim expenditure in an
amount not greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or for a
second or subsequent violation, by a fine not exceeding five thousand
dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding
one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(C) For any violation that results in a victim expenditure in an
amount greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000), by a fine not
exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the
state prison for 16 months, or two or three years, or by both that
fine and imprisonment, or by a fine not exceeding five thousand
dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding
one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(4) Any person who violates paragraph (8) of subdivision (c) is
punishable as follows:
(A) For a first violation that does not result in injury, a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars
($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year,
or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(B) For any violation that results in injury, or for a second or
subsequent violation, by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars
($10,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(5) Any person who violates paragraph (9) of subdivision (c) is
punishable as follows:
(A) For a first violation that does not result in injury, an
infraction punishable by a fine not one thousand dollars.
(B) For any violation that results in injury, or for a second or
subsequent violation, by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars
($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year,
or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(e) (1) In addition to any other civil remedy available, the owner
or lessee of the computer, computer system, computer network,
computer program, or data who suffers damage or loss by reason of a
violation of any of the provisions of subdivision (c) may bring a
civil action against the violator for compensatory damages and
injunctive relief or other equitable relief. Compensatory damages
shall include any expenditure reasonably and necessarily incurred by
the owner or lessee to verify that a computer system, computer
network, computer program, or data was or was not altered, damaged,
or deleted by the access. For the purposes of actions authorized by
this subdivision, the conduct of an unemancipated minor shall be
imputed to the parent or legal guardian having control or custody of
the minor, pursuant to the provisions of Section 1714.1 of the Civil
Code.
(2) In any action brought pursuant to this subdivision the court
may award reasonable attorney's fees.
(3) A community college, state university, or academic institution
accredited in this state is required to include computer-related
crimes as a specific violation of college or university student
conduct policies and regulations that may subject a student to
disciplinary sanctions up to and including dismissal from the
academic institution. This paragraph shall not apply to the
University of California unless the Board of Regents adopts a
resolution to that effect.
(4) In any action brought pursuant to this subdivision for a
willful violation of the provisions of subdivision (c), where it is
proved by clear and convincing evidence that a defendant has been
guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice as defined in subdivision (c)
of Section 3294 of the Civil Code, the court may additionally award
punitive or exemplary damages.
(5) No action may be brought pursuant to this subdivision unless
it is initiated within three years of the date of the act complained
of, or the date of the discovery of the damage, whichever is later.
(f) This section shall not be construed to preclude the
applicability of any other provision of the criminal law of this
state which applies or may apply to any transaction, nor shall it
make illegal any employee labor relations activities that are within
the scope and protection of state or federal labor laws.
(g) Any computer, computer system, computer network, or any
software or data, owned by the defendant, that is used during the
commission of any public offense described in subdivision (c) or any
computer, owned by the defendant, which is used as a repository for
the storage of software or data illegally obtained in violation of
subdivision (c) shall be subject to forfeiture, as specified in
Section 502.01.
(h) (1) Subdivision (c) does not apply to punish any acts which
are committed by a person within the scope of his or her lawful
employment. For purposes of this section, a person acts within the
scope of his or her employment when he or she performs acts which are
reasonably necessary to the performance of his or her work
assignment.
(2) Paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) does not apply to penalize
any acts committed by a person acting outside of his or her lawful
employment, provided that the employee's activities do not cause an
injury, as defined in paragraph (8) of subdivision (b), to the
employer or another, or provided that the value of supplies or
computer services, as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b),
which are used does not exceed an accumulated total of one hundred
dollars ($100).
(i) No activity exempted from prosecution under paragraph (2) of
subdivision (h) which incidentally violates paragraph (2), (4), or
(7) of subdivision (c) shall be prosecuted under those paragraphs.
(j) For purposes of bringing a civil or a criminal action under
this section, a person who causes, by any means, the access of a
computer, computer system, or computer network in one jurisdiction
from another jurisdiction is deemed to have personally accessed the
computer, computer system, or computer network in each jurisdiction.
(k) In determining the terms and conditions applicable to a person
convicted of a violation of this section the court shall consider
the following:
(1) The court shall consider prohibitions on access to and use of
computers.
(2) Except as otherwise required by law, the court shall consider
alternate sentencing, including community service, if the defendant
shows remorse and recognition of the wrongdoing, and an inclination
not to repeat the offense.
502.01. (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Property subject to forfeiture" means any property of the
defendant that is illegal telecommunications equipment as defined in
subdivision (g) of Section 502.8, or a computer, computer system, or
computer network, and any software or data residing thereon, if the
telecommunications device, computer, computer system, or computer
network was used in committing a violation of, or conspiracy to
commit a violation of, Section 422, 470, 470a, 472, 475, 476, 480,
483.5, 484g, or subdivision (a), (b), or (d) of Section 484e,
subdivision (a) of Section 484f, subdivision (b) or (c) of Section
484i, subdivision (c) of Section 502, or Section 502.7, 502.8, 529,
529a, or 530.5, 537e, 593d, 593e, or 646.9, or was used as a
repository for the storage of software or data obtained in violation
of those provisions. Forfeiture shall not be available for any
property used solely in the commission of an infraction. If the
defendant is a minor, it also includes property of the parent or
guardian of the defendant.
(2) "Sentencing court" means the court sentencing a person found
guilty of violating or conspiring to commit a violation of Section
422, 470, 470a, 472, 475, 476, 480, 483.5, 484g, or subdivision (a),
(b), or (d) of Section 484e, subdivision (d) of Section 484e,
subdivision (a) of Section 484f, subdivision (b) or (c) of Section
484i, subdivision (c) of Section 502, or Section 502.7, 502.8, 529,
529a, 530.5, 537e, 593d, 593e, or 646.9, or, in the case of a minor,
found to be a person described in Section 602 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code because of a violation of those provisions, the
juvenile court.
(3) "Interest" means any property interest in the property subject
to forfeiture.
(4) "Security interest" means an interest that is a lien,
mortgage, security interest, or interest under a conditional sales
contract.
(5) "Value" has the following meanings:
(A) When counterfeit items of computer software are manufactured
or possessed for sale, the "value" of those items shall be equivalent
to the retail price or fair market price of the true items that are
counterfeited.
(B) When counterfeited but unassembled components of computer
software packages are recovered, including, but not limited to,
counterfeited computer diskettes, instruction manuals, or licensing
envelopes, the "value" of those components of computer software
packages shall be equivalent to the retail price or fair market price
of the number of completed computer software packages that could
have been made from those components.
(b) The sentencing court shall, upon petition by the prosecuting
attorney, at any time following sentencing, or by agreement of all
parties, at the time of sentencing, conduct a hearing to determine
whether any property or property interest is subject to forfeiture
under this section. At the forfeiture hearing, the prosecuting
attorney shall have the burden of establishing, by a preponderance of
the evidence, that the property or property interests are subject to
forfeiture. The prosecuting attorney may retain seized property
that may be subject to forfeiture until the sentencing hearing.
(c) Prior to the commencement of a forfeiture proceeding, the law
enforcement agency seizing the property subject to forfeiture shall
make an investigation as to any person other than the defendant who
may have an interest in it. At least 30 days before the hearing to
determine whether the property should be forfeited, the prosecuting
agency shall send notice of the hearing to any person who may have an
interest in the property that arose before the seizure.
A person claiming an interest in the property shall file a motion
for the redemption of that interest at least 10 days before the
hearing on forfeiture, and shall send a copy of the motion to the
prosecuting agency and to the probation department.
If a motion to redeem an interest has been filed, the sentencing
court shall hold a hearing to identify all persons who possess valid
interests in the property. No person shall hold a valid interest in
the property if, by a preponderance of the evidence, the prosecuting
agency shows that the person knew or should have known that the
property was being used in violation of, or conspiracy to commit a
violation of, Section 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.10,
311.11, 470, 470a, 472, 475, 476, 480, 483.5, 484g, or subdivision
(a), (b), or (d) of Section 484e, subdivision (a) of Section 484f,
subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 484i, subdivision (c) of Section
502, or Section 502.7, 502.8, 529, 529a, 530.5, 537e, 593d, 593e, or
646.9, and that the person did not take reasonable steps to prevent
that use, or if the interest is a security interest, the person knew
or should have known at the time that the security interest was
created that the property would be used for a violation.
(d) If the sentencing court finds that a person holds a valid
interest in the property, the following provisions shall apply:
(1) The court shall determine the value of the property.
(2) The court shall determine the value of each valid interest in
the property.
(3) If the value of the property is greater than the value of the
interest, the holder of the interest shall be entitled to ownership
of the property upon paying the court the difference between the
value of the property and the value of the valid interest.
If the holder of the interest declines to pay the amount
determined under paragraph (2), the court may order the property sold
and designate the prosecutor or any other agency to sell the
property. The designated agency shall be entitled to seize the
property and the holder of the interest shall forward any
documentation underlying the interest, including any ownership
certificates for that property, to the designated agency. The
designated agency shall sell the property and pay the owner of the
interest the proceeds, up to the value of that interest.
(4) If the value of the property is less than the value of the
interest, the designated agency shall sell the property and pay the
owner of the interest the proceeds, up to the value of that interest.
(e) If the defendant was a minor at the time of the offense, this
subdivision shall apply to property subject to forfeiture that is the
property of the parent or guardian of the minor.
(1) The prosecuting agency shall notify the parent or guardian of
the forfeiture hearing at least 30 days before the date set for the
hearing.
(2) The computer or telecommunications device shall not be subject
to forfeiture if the parent or guardian files a signed statement
with the court at least 10 days before the date set for the hearing
that the minor shall not have access to any computer or
telecommunications device owned by the parent or guardian for two
years after the date on which the minor is sentenced.
(3) If the minor is convicted of a violation of Section 470, 470a,
472, 476, 480, or subdivision (b) of Section 484e, subdivision (d)
of Section 484e, subdivision (a) of Section 484f, subdivision (b) of
Section 484i, subdivision (c) of Section 502, or Section 502.7,
502.8, 529, 529a, or 530.5, within two years after the date on which
the minor is sentenced, and the violation involves a computer or
telecommunications device owned by the parent or guardian, the
original property subject to forfeiture, and the property involved in
the new offense, shall be subject to forfeiture notwithstanding
paragraph (2).
(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), (2), or (3), or any other
provision of this chapter, if a minor's parent or guardian makes full
restitution to the victim of a crime enumerated in this chapter in
an amount or manner determined by the court, the forfeiture
provisions of this chapter do not apply to the property of that
parent or guardian if the property was located in the family's
primary residence during the commission of the crime.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the court
may exercise its discretion to deny forfeiture where the court finds
that the convicted defendant, or minor adjudicated to come within
the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, is not likely to use the
property otherwise subject to forfeiture for future illegal acts.
(g) If the defendant is found to have the only valid interest in
the property subject to forfeiture, it shall be distributed as
follows:
(1) First, to the victim, if the victim elects to take the
property as full or partial restitution for injury, victim
expenditures, or compensatory damages, as defined in paragraph (1) of
subdivision (e) of Section 502. If the victim elects to receive the
property under this paragraph, the value of the property shall be
determined by the court and that amount shall be credited against the
restitution owed by the defendant. The victim shall not be
penalized for electing not to accept the forfeited property in lieu
of full or partial restitution.
(2) Second, at the discretion of the court, to one or more of the
following agencies or entities:
(A) The prosecuting agency.
(B) The public entity of which the prosecuting agency is a part.
(C) The public entity whose officers or employees conducted the
investigation resulting in forfeiture.
(D) Other state and local public entities, including school
districts.
(E) Nonprofit charitable organizations.
(h) If the property is to be sold, the court may designate the
prosecuting agency or any other agency to sell the property at
auction. The proceeds of the sale shall be distributed by the court
as follows:
(1) To the bona fide or innocent purchaser or encumbrancer,
conditional sales vendor, or mortgagee of the property up to the
amount of his or her interest in the property, if the court orders a
distribution to that person.
(2) The balance, if any, to be retained by the court, subject to
the provisions for distribution under subdivision (g).
502.5. Every person who, after mortgaging or encumbering by deed of
trust any real property, and during the existence of such mortgage
or deed of trust, or after such mortgaged or encumbered property
shall have been sold under an order and decree of foreclosure or at
trustee's sale, and with intent to defraud or injure the mortgagee or
the beneficiary or trustee, under such deed of trust, his
representatives, successors or assigns, or the purchaser of such
mortgaged or encumbered premises at such foreclosure or trustee's
sale, his representatives, successors or assigns, takes, removes or
carries away from such mortgaged or encumbered premises, or otherwise
disposes of or permits the taking, removal or carrying away or
otherwise disposing of any house, barn, windmill, water tank, pump,
engine or other part of the freehold that is attached or affixed to
such premises as an improvement thereon, without the written consent
of the mortgagee or beneficiary, under deed of trust, his
representatives, successors or assigns, or the purchaser at such
foreclosure or trustee's sale, his representatives, successors or
assigns, is guilty of larceny and shall be punished accordingly.
502.6. (a) Any person who knowingly, willfully, and with the intent
to defraud, possesses a scanning device, or who knowingly,
willfully, and with intent to defraud, uses a scanning device to
access, read, obtain, memorize or store, temporarily or permanently,
information encoded on the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card
without the permission of the authorized user of the payment card is
guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a term in a county jail not
to exceed one year, or a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or
both the imprisonment and fine.
(b) Any person who knowingly, willfully, and with the intent to
defraud, possesses a reencoder, or who knowingly, willfully, and with
intent to defraud, uses a reencoder to place encoded information on
the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card or any electronic
medium that allows an authorized transaction to occur, without the
permission of the authorized user of the payment card from which the
information is being reencoded is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable
by a term in a county jail not to exceed one year, or a fine of one
thousand dollars ($1,000), or both the imprisonment and fine.
(c) Any scanning device or reencoder described in subdivision (e)
owned by the defendant and possessed or used in violation of
subdivision (a) or (b) may be seized and be destroyed as contraband
by the sheriff of the county in which the scanning device or
reencoder was seized.
(d) Any computer, computer system, computer network, or any
software or data, owned by the defendant, which is used during the
commission of any public offense described in this section or any
computer, owned by the defendant, which is used as a repository for
the storage of software or data illegally obtained in violation of
this section shall be subject to forfeiture.
(e) As used in this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Scanning device" means a scanner, reader, or any other
electronic device that is used to access, read, scan, obtain,
memorize, or store, temporarily or permanently, information encoded
on the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card.
(2) "Reencoder" means an electronic device that places encoded
information from the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card on to
the magnetic strip or stripe of a different payment card.
(3) "Payment card" means a credit card, debit card, or any other
card that is issued to an authorized user and that allows the user to
obtain, purchase, or receive goods, services, money, or anything
else of value.
(f) Nothing in this section shall preclude prosecution under any
other provision of law.
502.7. (a) Any person who, knowingly, willfully, and with intent to
defraud a person providing telephone or telegraph service, avoids or
attempts to avoid, or aids, abets or causes another to avoid the
lawful charge, in whole or in part, for telephone or telegraph
service by any of the following means is guilty of a misdemeanor or a
felony, except as provided in subdivision (g):
(1) By charging the service to an existing telephone number or
credit card number without the authority of the subscriber thereto or
the lawful holder thereof.
(2) By charging the service to a nonexistent telephone number or
credit card number, or to a number associated with telephone service
which is suspended or terminated, or to a revoked or canceled (as
distinguished from expired) credit card number, notice of the
suspension, termination, revocation, or cancellation of the telephone
service or credit card having been given to the subscriber thereto
or the holder thereof.
(3) By use of a code, prearranged scheme, or other similar
stratagem or device whereby the person, in effect, sends or receives
information.
(4) By rearranging, tampering with, or making connection with
telephone or telegraph facilities or equipment, whether physically,
electrically, acoustically, inductively, or otherwise, or by using
telephone or telegraph service with knowledge or reason to believe
that the rearrangement, tampering, or connection existed at the time
of the use.
(5) By using any other deception, false pretense, trick, scheme,
device, conspiracy, or means, including the fraudulent use of false,
altered, or stolen identification.
(b) Any person who does either of the following is guilty of a
misdemeanor or a felony, except as provided in subdivision (g):
(1) Makes, possesses, sells, gives, or otherwise transfers to
another, or offers or advertises any instrument, apparatus, or device
with intent to use it or with knowledge or reason to believe it is
intended to be used to avoid any lawful telephone or telegraph toll
charge or to conceal the existence or place of origin or destination
of any telephone or telegraph message.
(2) Sells, gives, or otherwise transfers to another or offers, or
advertises plans or instructions for making or assembling an
instrument, apparatus, or device described in paragraph (1) of this
subdivision with knowledge or reason to believe that they may be used
to make or assemble the instrument, apparatus, or device.
(c) Any person who publishes the number or code of an existing,
canceled, revoked, expired, or nonexistent credit card, or the
numbering or coding which is employed in the issuance of credit
cards, with the intent that it be used or with knowledge or reason to
believe that it will be used to avoid the payment of any lawful
telephone or telegraph toll charge is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Subdivision (g) shall not apply to this subdivision. As used in this
section, "publishes" means the communication of information to any
one or more persons, either orally, in person or by telephone, radio,
or television, or electronic means, including, but not limited to, a
bulletin board system, or in a writing of any kind, including
without limitation a letter or memorandum, circular or handbill,
newspaper, or magazine article, or book.
(d) Any person who is the issuee of a calling card, credit card,
calling code, or any other means or device for the legal use of
telecommunications services and who receives anything of value for
knowingly allowing another person to use the means or device in order
to fraudulently obtain telecommunications services is guilty of a
misdemeanor or a felony, except as provided in subdivision (g).
(e) Subdivision (a) applies when the telephone or telegraph
communication involved either originates or terminates, or both
originates and terminates, in this state, or when the charges for
service would have been billable, in normal course, by a person
providing telephone or telegraph service in this state, but for the
fact that the charge for service was avoided, or attempted to be
avoided, by one or more of the means set forth in subdivision (a).
(f) Jurisdiction of an offense under this section is in the
jurisdictional territory where the telephone call or telegram
involved in the offense originates or where it terminates, or the
jurisdictional territory to which the bill for the service is sent or
would have been sent but for the fact that the service was obtained
or attempted to be obtained by one or more of the means set forth in
subdivision (a).
(g) Theft of any telephone or telegraph services under this
section by a person who has a prior misdemeanor or felony conviction
for theft of services under this section within the past five years,
is a felony.
(h) Any person or telephone company defrauded by any acts
prohibited under this section shall be entitled to restitution for
the entire amount of the charges avoided from any person or persons
convicted under this section.
(i) Any instrument, apparatus, device, plans, instructions, or
written publication described in subdivision (b) or (c) may be seized
under warrant or incident to a lawful arrest, and, upon the
conviction of a person for a violation of subdivision (a), (b), or
(c), the instrument, apparatus, device, plans, instructions, or
written publication may be destroyed as contraband by the sheriff of
the county in which the person was convicted or turned over to the
person providing telephone or telegraph service in the territory in
which it was seized.
(j) Any computer, computer system, computer network, or any
software or data, owned by the defendant, which is used during the
commission of any public offense described in this section or any
computer, owned by the defendant, which is used as a repository for
the storage of software or data illegally obtained in violation of
this section shall be subject to forfeiture.
502.8. (a) Any person who knowingly advertises illegal
telecommunications equipment is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) Any person who possesses or uses illegal telecommunications
equipment intending to avoid the payment of any lawful charge for
telecommunications service or to facilitate other criminal conduct is
guilty of a misdemeanor.
(c) Any person found guilty of violating subdivision (b), who has
previously been convicted of the same offense, shall be guilty of a
felony, punishable by imprisonment in state prison, a fine of up to
fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or both.
(d) Any person who possesses illegal telecommunications equipment
with intent to sell, transfer, or furnish or offer to sell, transfer,
or furnish the equipment to another, intending to avoid the payment
of any lawful charge for telecommunications service or to facilitate
other criminal conduct is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by one
year in a county jail or imprisonment in state prison or a fine of up
to ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both.
(e) Any person who possesses 10 or more items of illegal
telecommunications equipment with intent to sell or offer to sell the
equipment to another, intending to avoid payment of any lawful
charge for telecommunications service or to facilitate other
criminal conduct, is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment
in state prison, a fine of up to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or
both.
(f) Any person who manufactures 10 or more items of illegal
telecommunications equipment with intent to sell or offer to sell the
equipment to another, intending to avoid the payment of any lawful
charge for telecommunications service or to facilitate other
criminal conduct is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in
state prison or a fine of up to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or
both.
(g) For purposes of this section, "illegal telecommunications
equipment" means equipment that operates to evade the lawful charges
for any telecommunications service; surrepticiously intercept
electronic serial numbers or mobile identification numbers; alter
electronic serial numbers; circumvent efforts to confirm legitimate
access to a telecommunications account; conceal from any
telecommunications service provider or lawful authority the
existence, place of origin, or destination of any telecommunication;
or otherwise facilitate any other criminal conduct. "Illegal
telecommunications equipment" includes, but is not limited to, any
unauthorized electronic serial number or mobile identification
number, whether incorporated into a wireless telephone or other
device or otherwise. Items specified in this paragraph shall be
considered illegal telecommunications equipment notwithstanding any
statement or disclaimer that the items are intended for educational,
instructional, or similar purposes.
(h) (1) In the event that a person violates the provisions of this
section with the intent to avoid the payment of any lawful charge
for telecommunications service to a telecommunications service
provider, the court shall order the person to pay restitution to the
telecommunications service provider in an amount that is the greater
of the following:
(A) Five thousand dollars ($5,000).
(B) Three times the amount of actual damages, if any, sustained by
the telecommunications service provider, plus reasonable attorney
fees.
(2) It is not a necessary prerequisite to an order of restitution
under this section that the telecommunications service provider has
suffered, or be threatened with, actual damages.
502.9. Upon conviction of a felony violation under this chapter,
the fact that the victim was an elder or dependent adult, as defined
in Section 368, shall be considered a circumstance in aggravation
when imposing a term under subdivision (b) of Section 1170.
Did You Know?
- 90%
of the rapes and sex crimes
of children less than 12 years
old knew the offender, accodring
to police-recorded incident
data.
- Convicted
rape and sexual assault offenders
report that 2/3rd of their victims
were under the age of 18.
- State
felony court convictions, the
FBI's UCR arrests and National
Crime Victimization Surveys
all point to sex offenders being
older than other violent offenders,
generally in the early 30's.
California
Attorney - Cities We Serve:
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