Have you or a loved one been charged with Receiving Stolen Property or California Penal Code 496? We are a
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A charge of receiving stolen property is a wobbler in the state of California, which means that it can be charged as either a Misdemeanor or a
Felony depending on the underlying facts in your specific criminal matter. Our criminal lawyer always offers a FREE initial phone consultation so please call today to protect your legal rights and your reputation.
(a) Every person who buys or receives any property that has
been stolen or that has been obtained in any manner constituting
theft or extortion, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained,
or who conceals, sells, withholds, or aids in concealing, selling,
or withholding any property from the owner, knowing the property to
be so stolen or obtained, shall be punished by imprisonment in a
county jail for not more than one year, or imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170. However, if the district attorney or
the grand jury determines that this action would be in the interests
of justice, the district attorney or the grand jury, as the case may
be, may, if the value of the property does not exceed nine hundred
fifty dollars ($950), specify in the accusatory pleading that the
offense shall be a misdemeanor, punishable only by imprisonment in a
county jail not exceeding one year.
A principal in the actual theft of the property may be convicted
pursuant to this section. However, no person may be convicted both
pursuant to this section and of the theft of the same property.
(b) Every swap meet vendor, as defined in Section 21661 of the
Business and Professions Code, and every person whose principal
business is dealing in, or collecting, merchandise or personal
property, and every agent, employee, or representative of that
person, who buys or receives any property of a value in excess of
nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) that has been stolen or obtained in
any manner constituting theft or extortion, under circumstances that
should cause the person, agent, employee, or representative to make
reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the person from whom the
property was bought or received had the legal right to sell or
deliver it, without making a reasonable inquiry, shall be punished by
imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or
imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
Every swap meet vendor, as defined in Section 21661 of the
Business and Professions Code, and every person whose principal
business is dealing in, or collecting, merchandise or personal
property, and every agent, employee, or representative of that
person, who buys or receives any property of a value of nine hundred
fifty dollars ($950) or less that has been stolen or obtained in any
manner constituting theft or extortion, under circumstances that
should cause the person, agent, employee, or representative to make
reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the person from whom the
property was bought or received had the legal right to sell or
deliver it, without making a reasonable inquiry, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor.
(c) Any person who has been injured by a violation of subdivision
(a) or (b) may bring an action for three times the amount of actual
damages, if any, sustained by the plaintiff, costs of suit, and
reasonable attorney's fees.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 664, any attempt to commit any act
prohibited by this section, except an offense specified in the
accusatory pleading as a misdemeanor, is punishable by imprisonment
in a county jail for not more than one year, or by imprisonment
pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.