US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  18
                            CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
                                  CHAPTER 24
                                    THEFT
    18-2403.  THEFT. (1) A person steals property and commits theft when, with
intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or
to a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property
from an owner thereof.
    (2)  Theft includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or withholding of
another's property, with the intent prescribed in subsection (1) of this
section, committed in any of the following ways:
    (a)  By deception obtains or exerts control over property of the owner;
    (b)  By conduct heretofore defined or known as larceny; common law larceny
    by trick; embezzlement; extortion; obtaining property, money or labor
    under false pretenses; or receiving stolen goods;
    (c)  By acquiring lost property. A person acquires lost property when he
    exercises control over property of another which he knows to have been
    lost or mislaid, or to have been delivered under a mistake as to the
    identity of the recipient or the nature or amount of the property, without
    taking reasonable measures to return such property to the owner; or a
    person commits theft of lost or mislaid property when he:
         1.  Knows or learns the identity of the owner or knows, or is aware
         of, or learns of a reasonable method of identifying the owner; and
         2.  Fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property to the
         owner; and
         3.  Intends to deprive the owner permanently of the use or benefit of
         the property.
    (d)  By false promise:
         1.  A person obtains property by false promise when pursuant to a
         scheme to defraud, he obtains property of another by means of a
         representation, express or implied, that he or a third person will in
         the future engage in particular conduct, and when he does not intend
         to engage in such conduct or, as the case may be, does not believe
         that the third person intends to engage in such conduct.
         2.  In any prosecution for theft based upon a false promise, the
         defendant's intention or belief that the promise would not be
         performed may not be established by or inferred from the fact alone
         that such promise was not performed. Such a finding may be based only
         upon evidence establishing that the facts and circumstances of the
         case are consistent with guilty intent or belief and inconsistent
         with innocent intent or belief, and excluding to a moral certainty
         every reasonable hypothesis except that of the defendant's intention
         or belief that the promise would not be performed;
    (e)  By extortion. A person obtains property by extortion when he compels
    or induces another person to deliver such property to himself or to a
    third person by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the property is
    not so delivered, the actor or another will:
         1.  Cause physical injury to some person in the future; or
         2.  Cause damage to property; or
         3.  Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or
         4.  Accuse some person of a crime or cause criminal charges to be
         instituted against him; or
         5.  Expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether true or
         false, tending to subject some person to hatred, contempt or
         ridicule; or
         6.  Cause a strike, boycott or other collective labor group action
         injurious to some person's business; except that such a threat shall
         not be deemed extortion when the property is demanded or received for
         the benefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act;
         or
         7.  Testify or provide information or withhold testimony or
         information with respect to another's legal claim or defense; or
         8.  Use or abuse his position as a public servant by performing some
         act within or related to his official duties, or by failing or
         refusing to perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect
         some person adversely; or
         9.  Perform any other act which would not in itself materially
         benefit the actor but which is calculated to harm another person
         materially with respect to his health, safety, business, calling,
         career, financial condition, reputation or personal relationships.
    (3)  A person commits theft when he knowingly takes or exercises
unauthorized control over, or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest
in, the property of another person, with the intent of depriving the owner
thereof.
    (4)  A person commits theft when he knowingly receives, retains, conceals,
obtains control over, possesses, or disposes of stolen property, knowing the
property to have been stolen or under such circumstances as would reasonably
induce him to believe that the property was stolen, and
    (a)  Intends to deprive the owner permanently of the use or benefit of the
    property; or
    (b)  Knowingly uses, conceals or abandons the property in such manner as
    to deprive the owner permanently of such use or benefit; or
    (c)  Uses, conceals, or abandons the property knowing such use,
    concealment or abandonment probably will deprive the owner permanently of
    such use or benefit.
    (5)  Theft of labor or services or use of property.
    (a)  A person commits theft when he obtains the temporary use of property,
    labor or services of another which are available only for hire, by means
    of threat or deception or knowing that such use is without the consent of
    the person providing the property, labor or services.
    (b)  A person commits theft when after renting or leasing a motor vehicle
    under an agreement in writing which provides for the return of the vehicle
    to a particular place at a particular time, he willfully or intentionally
    fails to return the vehicle to that place within forty-eight (48) hours
    after the time specified.
    (c)  A person commits theft if, having control over the disposition of
    services of others, to which he is not entitled, he knowingly diverts such
    services to his own benefit or to the benefit of another not entitled
    thereto.