California penal code 537(A) makes it a California crime to defraud a Innkeeper. The crime will be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor based on the amount of the alleged fraud and the underlying circumstances of the alleged crime. If you have been charged with California penal code 537(A) please call our California criminal defense law firm for a FREE phone consultation. Protect your legal rights and your reputation in the community.
California Penal Code 537(A):
537. (a) Any person who obtains any food, fuel, services, or
accommodations at a hotel, inn, restaurant, boardinghouse,
lodginghouse, apartment house, bungalow court, motel, marina, marine
facility, autocamp, ski area, or public or private campground,
without paying therefor, with intent to defraud the proprietor or
manager thereof, or who obtains credit at an hotel, inn, restaurant,
boardinghouse, lodginghouse, apartment house, bungalow court, motel,
marina, marine facility, autocamp, or public or private campground by
the use of any false pretense, or who, after obtaining credit, food,
fuel, services, or accommodations, at an hotel, inn, restaurant,
boardinghouse, lodginghouse, apartment house, bungalow court, motel,
marina, marine facility, autocamp, or public or private campground,
absconds, or surreptitiously, or by force, menace, or threats,
removes any part of his or her baggage therefrom with the intent not
to pay for his or her food or accommodations is guilty of a public
offense punishable as follows:
(1) If the value of the credit, food, fuel, services, or
accommodations is nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) or less, by a
fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment
in the county jail for a term not exceeding six months, or both.
(2) If the value of the credit, food, fuel, services, or
accommodations is greater than nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), by
imprisonment in a county jail for a term of not more than one year,
or in the state prison.
(b) Any person who uses or attempts to use ski area facilities for
which payment is required without paying as required, or who resells
a ski lift ticket to another when the resale is not authorized by
the proprietor, is guilty of an infraction.
(c) Evidence that a person left the premises of such an hotel,
inn, restaurant, boardinghouse, lodginghouse, apartment house,
bungalow court, motel, marina, marine facility, autocamp, ski area,
or public or private campground, without paying or offering to pay
for such food, fuel, services, use of facilities, or accommodation,
or that the person, without authorization from the proprietor, resold
his or her ski lift ticket to another person after making use of
such facilities, shall be prima facie evidence of the following:
(1) That the person obtained such food, fuel, services, use of
facilities or accommodations with intent to defraud the proprietor or
manager.
(2) That, if, after obtaining the credit, food, fuel, services, or
accommodations, the person absconded, or surreptitiously, or by
force, menace, or threats, removed part of his or her baggage
therefrom, the person did so with the intent not to pay for the
credit, food, fuel, services, or accommodations.