Petit Theft/Retail Theft
Grand Theft/Grand Theft Auto
Robbery
Other Theft Crimes
812.015 Retail
and farm theft; transit fare evasion; mandatory fine; alternative
punishment; detention and arrest; exemption from liability for false
arrest; resisting arrest; penalties.--
(1) As used in
this section:
(a) "Merchandise"
means any personal property, capable of manual delivery, displayed,
held, or offered for retail sale by a merchant.
(b) "Merchant" means
an owner or operator, or the agent, consignee, employee, lessee, or
officer of an owner or operator, of any premises or apparatus used
for retail purchase or sale of any merchandise.
(c) "Value of
merchandise" means the sale price of the merchandise at the time it
was stolen or otherwise removed, depriving the owner of her or his
lawful right to ownership and sale of said item.
(d) "Retail theft"
means the taking possession of or carrying away of merchandise,
property, money, or negotiable documents; altering or removing a
label, universal product code, or price tag; transferring
merchandise from one container to another; or removing a shopping
cart, with intent to deprive the merchant of possession, use,
benefit, or full retail value.
(e) "Farm produce"
means livestock or any item grown, produced, or manufactured by a
person owning, renting, or leasing land for the purpose of growing,
producing, or manufacturing items for sale or personal use, either
part time or full time.
(f) "Farmer" means a person who is engaging in
the growing or producing of farm produce, milk products, eggs, or
meat, either part time or full time, for personal consumption or for
sale and who is the owner or lessee of the land or a person
designated in writing by the owner or lessee to act as her or his
agent. No person defined as a farm labor contractor pursuant to s.
450.28 shall be designated to act
as an agent for purposes of this section.
(g) "Farm theft" means
the unlawful taking possession of any items that are grown or
produced on land owned, rented, or leased by another person.
(h) "Antishoplifting
or inventory control device" means a mechanism or other device
designed and operated for the purpose of detecting the removal from
a mercantile establishment or similar enclosure, or from a protected
area within such an enclosure, of specially marked or tagged
merchandise. The term includes any electronic or digital imaging or
any video recording or other film used for security purposes and the
cash register tape or other record made of the register receipt.
(i) "Antishoplifting
or inventory control device countermeasure" means any item or device
which is designed, manufactured, modified, or altered to defeat any
antishoplifting or inventory control device.
(j) "Transit fare
evasion" means the unlawful refusal to pay the appropriate fare for
transportation upon a mass transit vehicle, or to evade the payment
of such fare, or to enter any mass transit vehicle or facility by
any door, passageway, or gate, except as provided for the entry of
fare-paying passengers, and shall constitute petit theft as
proscribed by this chapter.
(k) "Mass transit vehicle" means buses, rail
cars, or fixed-guideway mover systems operated by, or under contract
to, state agencies, political subdivisions of the state, or
municipalities for the transportation of fare-paying passengers.
(l) "Transit agency"
means any state agency, political subdivision of the state, or
municipality which operates mass transit vehicles.
(m) "Trespass" means the violation as described in s.
810.08.
(2) Upon a second or subsequent conviction for
petit theft from a merchant, farmer, or transit agency, the offender
shall be punished as provided in s.
812.014(3),
except that the court shall impose a fine of not less than $50 or
more than $1,000. However, in lieu of such fine, the court may
require the offender to perform public services designated by the
court. In no event shall any such offender be required to perform
fewer than the number of hours of public service necessary to
satisfy the fine assessed by the court, as provided by this
subsection, at the minimum wage prevailing in the state at the time
of sentencing.
(3)(a) A law enforcement officer, a merchant, a
farmer, or a transit agency's employee or agent, who has probable
cause to believe that a retail theft, farm theft, a transit fare
evasion, or trespass, or unlawful use or attempted use of any
antishoplifting or inventory control device countermeasure, has been
committed by a person and, in the case of retail or farm theft, that
the property can be recovered by taking the offender into custody
may, for the purpose of attempting to effect such recovery or for
prosecution, take the offender into custody and detain the offender
in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time. In the case
of a farmer, taking into custody shall be effectuated only on
property owned or leased by the farmer. In the event the merchant,
merchant's employee, farmer, or a transit agency's employee or agent
takes the person into custody, a law enforcement officer shall be
called to the scene immediately after the person has been taken into
custody.
(b) The activation of an antishoplifting or
inventory control device as a result of a person exiting an
establishment or a protected area within an establishment shall
constitute reasonable cause for the detention of the person so
exiting by the owner or operator of the establishment or by an agent
or employee of the owner or operator, provided sufficient notice has
been posted to advise the patrons that such a device is being
utilized. Each such detention shall be made only in a reasonable
manner and only for a reasonable period of time sufficient for any
inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the activation of the
device.
(c) The taking into custody and detention by a
law enforcement officer, merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a
transit agency's employee or agent, if done in compliance with all
the requirements of this subsection, shall not render such law
enforcement officer, merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a
transit agency's employee or agent, criminally or civilly liable for
false arrest, false imprisonment, or unlawful detention.
(4) Any law enforcement officer may arrest,
either on or off the premises and without warrant, any person the
officer has probable cause to believe unlawfully possesses, or is
unlawfully using or attempting to use or has used or attempted to
use, any antishoplifting or inventory control device countermeasure
or has committed theft in a retail or wholesale establishment or on
commercial or private farm lands of a farmer or transit fare evasion
or trespass.
(5)(a) A merchant,
merchant's employee, farmer, or a transit agency's employee or agent
who takes a person into custody, as provided in subsection (3), or
who causes an arrest, as provided in subsection (4), of a person for
retail theft, farm theft, transit fare evasion, or trespass shall
not be criminally or civilly liable for false arrest or false
imprisonment when the merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a
transit agency's employee or agent has probable cause to believe
that the person committed retail theft, farm theft, transit fare
evasion, or trespass.
(b) If a merchant or
merchant's employee takes a person into custody as provided in this
section, or acts as a witness with respect to any person taken into
custody as provided in this section, the merchant or merchant's
employee may provide his or her business address rather than home
address to any investigating law enforcement officer.
(6) An individual who, while committing or after
committing theft of property, transit fare evasion, or trespass,
resists the reasonable effort of a law enforcement officer,
merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a transit agency's
employee or agent to recover the property or cause the individual to
pay the proper transit fare or vacate the transit facility which the
law enforcement officer, merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a
transit agency's employee or agent had probable cause to believe the
individual had concealed or removed from its place of display or
elsewhere or perpetrated a transit fare evasion or trespass commits
a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082 or s.
775.083, unless the
individual did not know, or did not have reason to know, that the
person seeking to recover the property was a law enforcement
officer, merchant, merchant's employee, farmer, or a transit
agency's employee or agent. For purposes of this section the charge
of theft and the charge of resisting may be tried concurrently.
(7) It is unlawful to possess, or use or attempt to use, any
antishoplifting or inventory control device countermeasure within
any premises used for the retail purchase or sale of any
merchandise. Any person who possesses any antishoplifting or
inventory control device countermeasure within any premises used for
the retail purchase or sale of any merchandise commits a felony of
the third degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082 or s.
775.083, or s.
775.084. Any person who
uses or attempts to use any antishoplifting or inventory control
device countermeasure within any premises used for the retail
purchase or sale of any merchandise commits a felony of the third
degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082 or s.
775.083, or s.
775.084.
(8) Except as provided in subsection (9), a
person who commits retail theft commits a felony of the third
degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082 or s.
775.083, or s.
775.084,
if the property stolen is valued at $300 or more, and the person:
(a) Individually, or
in concert with one or more other persons, coordinates the
activities of one or more individuals in committing the offense, in
which case the amount of each individual theft is aggregated to
determine the value of the property stolen;
(b) Commits theft from
more than one location within a 48-hour period, in which case the
amount of each individual theft is aggregated to determine the value
of the property stolen;
(c) Acts in concert
with one or more other individuals within one or more establishments
to distract the merchant, merchant's employee, or law enforcement
officer in order to carry out the offense, or acts in other ways to
coordinate efforts to carry out the offense; or
(d) Commits the
offense through the purchase of merchandise in a package or box that
contains merchandise other than, or in addition to, the merchandise
purported to be contained in the package or box.
(9) A person commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if the person:
(a) Violates
subsection (8) and has previously been convicted of a violation of
subsection (8); or
(b) Individually, or
in concert with one or more other persons, coordinates the
activities of one or more persons in committing the offense of
retail theft where the stolen property has a value in excess of
$3,000.
History.--s.
2, ch. 78-348; s. 177, ch. 79-164; s. 1, ch. 80-379; s. 1, ch.
81-108; s. 1, ch. 81-163; s. 165, ch. 83-216; s. 2, ch. 86-161; s.
1, ch. 88-325; s. 40, ch. 91-110; s. 190, ch. 91-224; s. 2, ch.
92-79; s. 11, ch. 95-184; s. 1, ch. 96-366; s. 1820, ch. 97-102; s.
33, ch. 97-280; s. 3, ch. 2001-115; s. 2, ch. 2007-177.
Statute language taken directly from
Florida Statutes Online:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/
The material on this
page is not intended to be legal advice. Florida law is continually
changing therefore some of the provisions contained here may be out
of date. It is always best to consult a criminal defense attorney
about your legal rights and responsibilities regarding your
particular case.
Consult With an Experienced Orlando
Criminal Defense Lawyer
If you
have been arrested and charged with petit theft, grand theft,
robbery or any other theft related offense contact Orlando criminal
defense lawyer Will Corzo or
Sam Kohrs. Call toll free
877-99CK-LAW
for a free consultation and explanation of your rights.