SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILLS NOS. 1043,
1031, 580 & 671
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
3144S.03C
AN ACT
To repeal sections 570.020, 570.080 and 570.120, RSMo 1994, and section 570.030, RSMo Supp. 1999, relating to theft of services and merchandise, and to enact in lieu thereof five new sections relating to the same subject, with penalty provisions.
Section A. Sections 570.020, 570.080 and 570.120, RSMo 1994, and section 570.030, RSMo Supp. 1999, are repealed and five new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 407.308, 570.020, 570.030, 570.080 and 570.120, to read as follows:
407.308. 1. A person commits theft of transportation of property service if the person contracts with a transportation of property provider or an agent acting for a transportation provider for the transportation of any property and, after the property has been delivered by the transportation provider to the agreed upon destination within the agreed upon time limitation, the person contracting for the delivery of the property knowingly fails to make payment of the dollar amount or other consideration required pursuant to the contract.
2. Intent to avoid payment is presumed if the person making the contract with the transportation provider or agent acting for the transportation provider does not make the required payment within the time specified in the contract, or if there is not time specified in the contract for payment, within thirty days of the completion of the transportation of property service rendered.
3. Theft of service is a class C felony if the value of the transportation of property services is five hundred dollars or more, otherwise theft of transportation of property service is a class A misdemeanor.
570.020. For the purposes of this chapter, the value of property shall be ascertained as follows:
(1) Except as otherwise specified in this section, "value" means the market value of the property at the time and place of the crime, or if such cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, the cost of replacement of the property within a reasonable time after the crime;
(2) Whether or not they have been issued or delivered, certain written instruments, not including those having a readily ascertainable market value such as some public and corporate bonds and securities, shall be evaluated as follows:
(a) The value of an instrument constituting evidence of debt, such as a check, draft or promissory note, shall be deemed the amount due or collectible thereon or thereby, such figure ordinarily being the face amount of the indebtedness less any portion thereof which has been satisfied;
(b) The value of any other instrument which creates, releases, discharges or otherwise affects any valuable legal right, privilege or obligation shall be deemed the greatest amount of economic loss which the owner of the instrument might reasonably suffer by virtue of the loss of the instrument;
(3) When the value of property cannot be satisfactorily ascertained pursuant to the standards set forth in subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section, its value shall be deemed to be an amount less than [one] five hundred fifty dollars.
570.030. 1. A person commits the crime of stealing if he or she appropriates property or services of another with the purpose to deprive him or her thereof, either without his or her consent or by means of deceit or coercion.
2. Evidence of the following is admissible in any criminal prosecution under this section on the issue of the requisite knowledge or belief of the alleged stealer:
(1) That he or she failed or refused to pay for property or services of a hotel, restaurant, inn or boardinghouse;
(2) That he or she gave in payment for property or services of a hotel, restaurant, inn or boardinghouse a check or negotiable paper on which payment was refused;
(3) That he or she left the hotel, restaurant, inn or boardinghouse with the intent to not pay for property or services;
(4) That he or she surreptitiously removed or attempted to remove his or her baggage from a hotel, inn or boardinghouse.
3. Stealing is a class C felony if:
(1) The value of the property or services appropriated is [seven] five hundred [fifty] dollars or more; or
(2) The actor physically takes the property appropriated from the person of the victim; or
(3) The property appropriated consists of:
(a) Any motor vehicle, watercraft or aircraft; or
(b) Any will or unrecorded deed affecting real property; or
(c) Any credit card or letter of credit; or
(d) Any firearms; or
(e) A United States national flag designed, intended and used for display on buildings or stationary flagstaffs in the open; or
(f) Any original copy of an act, bill or resolution, introduced or acted upon by the legislature of the state of Missouri; or
(g) Any pleading, notice, judgment or any other record or entry of any court of this state, any other state or of the United States; or
(h) Any book of registration or list of voters required by chapter 115, RSMo; or
(i) Any animal of the species of horse, mule, ass, cattle, swine, sheep, or goat; or
(j) Live fish raised for commercial sale with a value of seventy-five dollars; or
(k) Any controlled substance as defined by section 195.010, RSMo; or
(4) The actor appropriates goods, wares or merchandise from three separate mercantile establishments during a criminal episode, regardless of the value of the goods.
4. If an actor appropriates any material with a value less than [one] five hundred [fifty] dollars in violation of this section with the intent to use such material to manufacture, compound, produce, prepare, test or analyze amphetamine or methamphetamine or any of their analogues, then such violation is a class D felony. The theft of any amount of anhydrous ammonia or liquid nitrogen, or any attempt to steal any amount of anhydrous ammonia or liquid nitrogen, is a class D felony.
5. The theft of any item of property or services under subsection 3 of this section which exceeds [seven] five hundred [fifty] dollars may be considered a separate felony and may be charged in separate counts.
6. Any person with a prior conviction of paragraph (i) of subdivision (3) of subsection 3 of this section and who violates the provisions of paragraph (i) of subdivision (3) of subsection 3 of this section when the value of the animal or animals stolen exceeds three thousand dollars is guilty of a class B felony.
7. Any violation of this section for which no other penalty is specified in this section is a class A misdemeanor.
570.080. 1. A person commits the crime of receiving stolen property if for the purpose of depriving the owner of a lawful interest therein, he receives, retains or disposes of property of another knowing that it has been stolen, or believing that it has been stolen.
2. Evidence of the following is admissible in any criminal prosecution under this section to prove the requisite knowledge or belief of the alleged receiver:
(1) That he was found in possession or control of other property stolen on separate occasions from two or more persons;
(2) That he received other stolen property in another transaction within the year preceding the transaction charged;
(3) That he acquired the stolen property for a consideration which he knew was far below its reasonable value.
3. Receiving stolen property is a class A misdemeanor unless the property involved has a value of [one] five hundred [fifty] dollars or more, or the person receiving the property is a dealer in goods of the type in question, in which cases receiving stolen property is a class C felony.
570.120. 1. A person commits the crime of passing a bad check when:
(1) With purpose to defraud, he makes, issues or passes a check or other similar sight order for the payment of money, knowing that it will not be paid by the drawee, or that there is no such drawee; or
(2) He makes, issues, or passes a check or other similar sight order for the payment of money, knowing that there are insufficient funds in his account or that there is no such account or no drawee and fails to pay the check or sight order within ten days after receiving actual notice in writing that it has not been paid because of insufficient funds or credit with the drawee or because there is no such drawee.
2. As used in subdivision (2) of subsection 1 of this section, actual notice in writing means notice of the nonpayment which is actually received by the defendant. Such notice may include the service of summons or warrant upon the defendant for the initiation of the prosecution of the check or checks which are the subject matter of the prosecution if the summons or warrant contains information of the ten-day period during which the instrument may be paid and that payment of the instrument within such ten-day period will result in dismissal of the charges. The requirement of notice shall also be satisfied for written communications which are tendered to the defendant and which the defendant refuses to accept.
3. The face amounts of any bad checks passed pursuant to one course of conduct within any ten-day period may be aggregated in determining the grade of the offense.
4. Passing bad checks is a class A misdemeanor, unless:
(1) The face amount of the check or sight order or the aggregated amounts is [one] five hundred [fifty] dollars or more; or
(2) The issuer had no account with the drawee or if there was no such drawee at the time the check or order was issued, in which cases passing bad checks is a class D felony.
5. (1) In addition to all other costs and fees allowed by law, each prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney who takes any action under the provisions of this section shall collect from the issuer in such action an administrative handling cost. The cost shall be five dollars for checks of less than ten dollars, ten dollars for checks of ten dollars but less than one hundred dollars, and twenty-five dollars for checks of one hundred dollars or more. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 50.525 to 50.745, RSMo, the costs provided for in this subsection shall be deposited by the county treasurer into a separate interest-bearing fund to be expended by the prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney. The funds shall be expended, upon warrants issued by the prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney directing the treasurer to issue checks thereon, only for purposes related to that previously authorized in this section. Any revenues that are not required for the purposes of this section may be placed in the general revenue fund of the county or city not within a county.
(2) The moneys deposited in the fund may be used by the prosecuting or circuit attorney for office supplies, postage, books, training, office equipment, capital outlay, expenses of trial and witness preparation, additional employees for the staff of the prosecuting or circuit attorney and employees' salaries.
(3) This fund may be audited by the state auditor's office or the appropriate auditing agency.
(4) If the moneys collected and deposited into this fund are not totally expended annually, then the unexpended balance shall remain in said fund and the balance shall be kept in said fund to accumulate from year to year.
6. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, in addition to the administrative handling costs provided for in subsection 5 of this section, the prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney may, in his discretion, collect from the issuer, in addition to the face amount of the check, a reasonable service charge, which along with the face amount of the check shall be turned over to the party to whom the bad check was issued. If the prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney does not collect the service charge and the face amount of the check, the party to whom the check was issued may collect from the issuer a reasonable service charge along with the face amount of the check.
7. In all cases where a prosecutor receives notice from the original holder that a person has violated this section with respect to a payroll check or order, the prosecutor, if he determines there is a violation of this section, shall file an information or seek an indictment within sixty days of such notice and may file an information or seek an indictment thereafter if the prosecutor has failed through neglect or mistake to do so within sixty days of such notice and if he determines there is sufficient evidence shall further prosecute such cases.
8. When any financial institution returns a dishonored check to the person who deposited such check, it shall be in substantially the same physical condition as when deposited, or in such condition as to provide the person who deposited the check the information required to identify the person who wrote the check.