SENATE, No. 1246

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED JUNE 3, 1996

By Senators CONNORS, McNAMARA and Bubba

An Act concerning stolen property and amending N.J.S.2C:20-7 and P.L.1981, c.167.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. N.J.S.2C:20-7 is amended to read as follows:

    2C:20-7. Receiving stolen property. a. Receiving. A person is guilty of theft if he knowingly receives or brings into this State movable property of another knowing that it has been stolen, or believing that it is probably stolen. It is an affirmative defense that the property was received with purpose to restore it to the owner. "Receiving" means acquiring possession, control or title, or lending on the security of the property.

    b. Presumption of knowledge. The requisite knowledge or belief is presumed in the case of a person who:

    (1) Is found in possession or control of two or more items of property stolen on two or more separate occasions; or

    (2) Has received stolen property in another transaction within the year preceding the transaction charged; or

    (3) Being a person in the business of buying or selling property of the sort received, acquires the property without having ascertained by reasonable inquiry that the person from whom he obtained it had a legal right to possess and dispose of it.

    c. Receiving stolen property from a minor. A person convicted of theft in the second, third or fourth degree under this section who received the property from a person under the age of 18 shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment by the court. The term of imprisonment shall include the imposition of a minimum term. The minimum term shall be fixed at, or between, one-third and one-half of the sentence imposed by the court or three years, whichever is greater, or 18 months in the case of a fourth degree crime, during which the defendant shall be ineligible for parole.

    It shall not be relevant to the imposition of a term of imprisonment pursuant to this subsection that the defendant mistakenly believed that the person from whom the property was received was 18 years of age or older, even if the mistaken belief was reasonable.

(cf: P.L.1981, c.290, s.19)

    2. Section 7 of P.L.1981, c.167 (C.2C:20-7.1) is amended to read as follows:

    7. Fencing. a. Possession of altered property. Any dealer in property who knew or should have known that the identifying features such as serial numbers and permanently affixed labels of property in his possession have been removed or altered without the consent of the manufacturer is guilty of possession of altered property. It is a defense to a prosecution under this subsection that a person lawfully possesses the usual indicia of ownership in addition to mere possession.

    b. Dealing in stolen property. A person is guilty of dealing in stolen property if he traffics in, or initiates, organizes, plans, finances, directs, manages or supervises trafficking in stolen property.

    c. The value of the property involved in the violation of this section shall be determined by the trier of fact. The value of the property involved in the violation of this section may be aggregated in determining the grade of the offense where the acts or conduct constituting a violation were committed pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, whether from the same person or several persons.

    d. It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that the actor:

    (1) Was unaware that the property or service was that of another;

    (2) Acted under an honest claim of right to the property or service involved or that he had a right to acquire or dispose of it as he did.

    e. In addition to the presumptions contained in N.J.S. 2C:20-7b. the following presumptions are available in the prosecution for a fencing offense:

    (1) Proof of the purchase or sale of property at a price substantially below its fair market value, unless satisfactorily explained, gives rise to an inference that the person buying or selling the property knew that it had been stolen;

    (2) Proof of the purchase or sale of property by a dealer in that property, out of the regular course of business, or without the usual indicia of ownership other than mere possession, or the property or the job lot of which it is a part was bought, received, possessed or controlled in broken succession of title, so that it cannot be traced, by appropriate documents, in unbroken succession to the manufacturer, in all cases where the regular course of business reasonably indicates records of purchase, transfer or sale, unless satisfactorily explained, gives rise to an inference that the person buying or selling the property knew that it had been stolen; and

    (3) Proof that a person buying or selling property of the sort received obtained such property without having ascertained by reasonable inquiry that the person from whom he obtained it had a legal right to possess or control it gives rise to an inference that such person knew that it had been stolen.

    f. Dealing in stolen property received from a minor. A person convicted of dealing in stolen property in the second, third or fourth degree under the provisions of subsection b. of this section who received the property from a person under the age of 18 shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment by the court. The term of imprisonment shall include the imposition of a minimum term. The minimum term shall be fixed at, or between, one-third and one-half of the sentence imposed by the court or three years, whichever is greater, or 18 months in the case of a fourth degree crime, during which the defendant shall be ineligible for parole.

    It shall not be relevant to the imposition of a term of imprisonment pursuant to this subsection that the defendant mistakenly believed that the person from whom the property was received was 18 years of age or older, even if the mistaken belief was reasonable.

(cf: P.L.1981, c.167, s.7)

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would impose mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment on persons who buy stolen property from juveniles or "fence" property received from juveniles. Under the bill, a person who receives the stolen property from a person under the age of 18 would be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment during which he would be ineligible for parole. The mandatory minimum term of imprisonment without parole eligibility would be three years or, in the case of a fourth degree crime, 18 months.

Increases penalties for receiving stolen property from a juvenile.