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Kentucky Theft Laws
Kentucky Theft Laws

 

 

433.234 Shoplifting.

(1) Willful concealment of unpurchased merchandise of any store or other mercantile

establishment on the premises of such store shall be prima facie evidence of an

intent to deprive the owner of his property without paying the purchase price

therefor.

(2) All city and county law enforcement agencies shall cause to be made a photograph,

a set of fingerprints, and a general descriptive report of all persons except juveniles

arrested for theft through an act of shoplifting. If convicted, two (2) copies of each

item shall be forwarded within thirty (30) days to the Department of Kentucky State

Police of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.

Effective: June 26, 2007

35.670 Larceny -- Wrongful appropriation.

(1) Any person subject to this code who wrongfully takes, obtains, or withholds by any

means, from the possession of the owner or of any other person any money,

personal property or articles of value of any kind:

(a) With intent permanently to deprive or defraud another person of the use and

benefit of property or to appropriate it to his own use or the use of any person

other than the owner, steals that property and is guilty of larceny; or

(b) With intent temporarily to deprive or defraud another person of the use and

benefit of property or to appropriate it to his own use or the use of any person

other than the owner, is guilty of wrongful appropriation.

(2) Any person found guilty of larceny or wrongful appropriation shall be punished as a

court-martial directs.

514.060 Theft of services.

(1) A person is guilty of theft of services when:

(a) The person intentionally obtains services by deception or threat or by false

token or other means to avoid payment for the services which he knows are

available only for compensation;

(b) The person intentionally obtains wireless communications services or access

to services by any of the following means:

1. Unauthorized interception of any electronic serial number, mobile

identification number, personal identification number, or like identifying

number;

2. Unauthorized interception of any cellular service or personal

communications service as terms may be defined in 47 C.F.R. parts 22

and 24 respectively;

3. Unauthorized interception of any similar telephone service; or

4. Use of deception, threat, or other means to avoid payment for the

services which the person knows are available only for charge or

compensation; or

(c) Having control over or unauthorized access to the use of the services of others

to which the person is not entitled, the person intentionally diverts the services

to the person's own benefit or the benefit of another not entitled thereto.

(2) Where compensation for services is ordinarily paid immediately upon the rendering

of the services, as in the case of hotels and restaurants, refusal to pay or absconding

without payment or offer to pay shall be prima facie evidence that the services were

obtained by deception as to intention to pay.

(3) In any prosecution for theft of gas, water, electricity, or other public service, where

the utility supplying the service had installed a meter or other device to record the

amount of service supplied, proof that:

(a) The meter or other device has been altered, tampered with, or bypassed in a

manner so as to prevent or reduce the recording thereof; or

(b) Service has been, after having been disconnected by the utility supplying

service, reconnected without authorization of the utility

shall be prima facie evidence of the intent to commit theft of service by the person

or persons obligated to pay for service supplied through the meter or other device.

(4) Theft of services is a Class A misdemeanor unless the value of the service is three

hundred dollars ($300) or more, in which case it is a Class D felony.

Effective: July 15, 1998

514.160 Theft of identity.

(1) A person is guilty of the theft of the identity of another when he or she knowingly

possesses or uses any current or former identifying information of the other person

or family member or ancestor of the other person, such as that person's or family

member's or ancestor's name, address, telephone number, electronic mail address,

Social Security number, driver's license number, birth date, personal identification

number or code, and any other information which could be used to identify the

person, including unique biometric data, with the intent to represent that he or she is

the other person for the purpose of:

(a) Depriving the other person of property;

(b) Obtaining benefits or property to which he or she would otherwise not be

entitled;

(c) Making financial or credit transactions using the other person's identity;

(d) Avoiding detection; or

(e) Commercial or political benefit.

(2) Theft of identity is a Class D felony. If the person violating this section is a business

that has violated this section on more than one (1) occasion, then that person also

violates the Consumer Protection Act, KRS 367.110 to 367.300.

(3) This section shall not apply when a person obtains the identity of another to

misrepresent his or her age for the purpose of obtaining alcoholic beverages,

tobacco, or another privilege denied to minors.

(4) This section does not apply to credit or debit card fraud under KRS 434.550 to

434.730.

(5) Where the offense consists of theft by obtaining or trafficking in the personal

identity of another person, the venue of the prosecution may be in either the county

where the offense was committed or the county where the other person resides.

(6) A person found guilty of violating any provisions of this section shall forfeit any

lawful claim to the identifying information, property, or other realized benefit of the

other person as a result of such violation.

Effective: July 15, 2002

514.050 Theft of property lost, mislaid, or delivered by mistake.

(1) Except as provided in KRS 365.710, a person is guilty of theft of property lost,

mislaid, or delivered by mistake when:

(a) He comes into control of the property of another that he knows to have been

lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the nature or amount of the

property or the identity of the recipient; and

(b) With intent to deprive the owner thereof, he fails to take reasonable measures

to restore the property to a person entitled to have it.

(2) Theft of property lost, mislaid, or delivered by mistake is a Class A misdemeanor

unless the value of the property is three hundred dollars ($300) or more, in which

case it is a Class D felony.

Effective: July 14, 1992

514.040 Theft by deception.

(1) A person is guilty of theft by deception when the person obtains property or services

of another by deception with intent to deprive the person thereof. A person deceives

when the person intentionally:

(a) Creates or reinforces a false impression, including false impressions as to law,

value, intention, or other state of mind;

(b) Prevents another from acquiring information which would affect judgment of

a transaction;

(c) Fails to correct a false impression which the deceiver previously created or

reinforced or which the deceiver knows to be influencing another to whom the

person stands in a fiduciary or confidential relationship;

(d) Fails to disclose a known lien, adverse claim, or other legal impediment to the

enjoyment of property which the person transfers or encumbers in

consideration for the property obtained, whether the impediment is or is not

valid or is or is not a matter of official record; or

(e) Issues or passes a check or similar sight order for the payment of money,

knowing that it will not be honored by the drawee.

(2) The term "deceive" does not, however, include falsity as to matters having no

pecuniary significance or puffing by statements unlikely to deceive ordinary persons

in the group addressed.

(3) Deception as to a person's intention to perform a promise shall not be inferred from

the fact alone that he did not subsequently perform the promise.

(4) For purposes of subsection (1) of this section, a maker of a check or similar sight

order for the payment of money is presumed to know that the check or order, other

than a postdated check or order, would not be paid, if:

(a) The maker had no account with the drawee at the time the check or order was

issued; or

(b) Payment was refused by the drawee for lack of funds, upon presentation

within thirty (30) days after issue, and the maker failed to make good within

ten (10) days after receiving notice of that refusal. Notice of the refusal may

include a citation to this section and a description of this section's criminal

penalties and shall be deemed properly addressed when mailed to the address

printed or written on the check or sight order or provided by the drawer or

maker upon issuance of the check or sight order. The notice, if mailed, shall

be deemed received by the addressee seven (7) days after it is placed in the

United States mail. The notice may be sent by first-class mail if supported by

an affidavit of service setting out the contents of the notice, the address to

which the notice was mailed, that correct postage was applied, and the date

the notice was placed in the United States mail. A maker makes good on a

check or similar sight order for the payment of money by paying to the holder

the face amount of the instrument, together with any merchant's posted

reasonable bad check handling fee not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25) and

any fee imposed pursuant to subsection (5) of this section.

(5) If a county attorney issues notice to a maker that a drawee has refused to honor an

instrument due to a lack of funds as described in subsection (4)(b) of this section,

the county attorney may charge a fee to the maker of twenty-five dollars ($25), if

the instrument is paid. Money paid to the county attorney pursuant to this section

shall be used only for payment of county attorney office operating expenses. Excess

fees held by the county attorney on June 30 of each year shall be turned over to the

county treasurer before the end of the next fiscal year for use by the fiscal court of

the county.

(6) A person is guilty of theft by deception when the person issues a check or similar

sight order in payment of all or any part of any tax payable to the Commonwealth

knowing that it will not be honored by the drawee.

(7) A person is guilty of theft by deception when the person issues a check or similar

sight order in payment of all or any part of a child support obligation knowing that it

will not be honored by the drawee.

(8) Theft by deception is a Class A misdemeanor unless the value of the property,

service, or the amount of the check or sight order referred to in subsection (6) or (7)

of this section is three hundred dollars ($300) or more, in which case it is a Class D

felony.

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