| There are many different types of theft crimes, including but not limited to, burglary, larceny, and embezzlement. In general, larceny is the taking of property while burglary includes the element of entering a home or dwelling. Penal Code §459 states that the definition of Burglary is every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel, floating home, railroad car, locked or sealed cargo container, whether or not mounted on a vehicle, trailer coach, any house car, inhabited camper, vehicle, when the doors are locked, aircraft, or mine or any underground portion thereof, with intent to commit grand or petty larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary. As used in this chapter, "inhabited" means currently being used for dwelling purposes, whether occupied or not. A house, trailer, vessel designed for habitation, or portion of a building is currently being used for dwelling purposes if, at the time of the burglary, it was not occupied solely because a natural or other disaster caused the occupants to leave the premises. Degrees of Burglary: Penal Code §460 gives the degrees of Burglary by providing that every burglary of an inhabited dwelling house, vessel, as defined in the Harbors and Navigation Code, which is inhabited and designed for habitation, floating home, or trailer coach, as defined by the Vehicle Code, or the inhabited portion of any other building, is burglary of the first degree. All other kinds of burglary are of the second degree. Punishment for Burglary: Penal Code §461 provides the punishment for Burglary as follows: (1) Burglary in the first degree by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or six years; and (2) Burglary in the second degree by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison. Penal Code §484 provides that 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 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. There crime of larceny is committed by a person who: (1) takes possession; (2) of personal property; (3) owned or possessed by another; (4) by means of trespass; (5) with intent to steal the property; and (6) carries the property away. The act of taking the property from another’s possession is always a trespass unless the owner consents to the taking freely and unconditionally or the taker has a legal right to take the property. GRAND THEFT: Penal Code §487 defines Grand Theft as the unlawful taking of money, labor, or real or personal property valued at over $400.00. Additionally, the following situations are instances in which the act is classified as Grand Theft even though the property taken is worth less than the statutory amount of $400.00: (1) Theft of certain farm crops and domestic fowls whose value exceeds $100.00; (2) Theft of fish, shellfish, mollusks, crustaceans, kelp, algae, or other aqua-cultural products whose value exceeds $100.00; (3) Theft of money, labor, or property taken by a servant, agent, or employee from his or her principal or employer with an aggregate value of $400.00 or more in any twelve month period; (4) Theft of property from the person of another. If force is used to effect the theft, the crime can also be classified as robbery; (5) Theft of a firearm, regardless of its value; (6) Theft of a horse, mare, gelding, any bovine animal, any caprine animal, mule, jack, jenny, sheep, lamp, hog, sow, boar, gilt, barrow, or pig. A defendant who converts the carcass of such animal, or any portion thereof, is also guilty of grand theft; (7) Theft of real estate valued at $100.00 or more that is converted into personal property by severance; (8) Theft of any amount of "gold duct, amalgam, or quicksilver;" and (9) Theft of a dog whose value exceeds $400.00. PETTY THEFT: Any theft that does not fit into the above category for Grant Theft is considered to be Petty Theft. Petty Theft is a misdemeanor punishable by fine not exceeding $1,000.00 or imprisonment for no more than six months. If the accused has no prior convictions for theft, a petty theft of property having a value of $50.00 or less may be charged as an infraction. A theft charged as an infraction is punishable by fine of not more than $250.00. The crime of Embezzlement was created to address the problems created in a larceny case when the accused’s defense was that they had permission to the property. Embezzlement is basically a theft of something that the accused has been entrusted to care for, but does not have permission to take. There are three basic elements to embezzlement: (1) a relation of trust and confidence between two persons; (2) one of the persons entrusted property to the other; and (3) appropriation or conversion with the specific intent to deprive the owner of his property. |
| BURGLARY AND THEFT CRIMES |
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| BURGLARY |
| LARCENY |
| EMBEZZLEMENT |
| GRAND THEFT & PETTY THEFT |
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| (858) 444-5256 |
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