2013 Colorado State Legislature Rewrites Colorado’s Theft Laws Amending The Penalties HB 13-1160
By Colorado Theft Crimes Criminal Defense Lawyer – H. Michel Steinberg
Quietly this month – the Colorado state legislature decreased the possible penalties for theft crimes – by increasing the jurisdictional limits that enable law enforcement authorities to charge certain theft crimes.
The new law – while increasing the jurisdictional amounts necessary to charge misdemeanor to felony theft also takes other offenses of theft such as theft of rental property (18-4-402 Theft of rental property) and theft by receiving (18-4-410 Theft by receiving) and merges them into the primary statute – CRS 18-4-410. The law also totally removes (repeals) the crimes of fuel piracy, and newspaper theft.
Here Is Colorado’s NEW Theft Law and The New Penalty Structure
§ 18-4-401. Theft
(1) A person commits theft when he or she knowingly obtains, retains, or exercises control over anything of value of another without authorization or by threat or deception; or receives, loans money by pawn or pledge on, or disposes of anything of value or belonging to another that he or she knows or believes to have been stolen,
and:
(a) Intends to deprive the other person permanently of the use or benefit of the thing of value;
(b) Knowingly uses, conceals, or abandons the thing of value in such manner as to deprive the other person permanently of its use or benefit;
(c) Uses, conceals, or abandons the thing of value intending that such use, concealment, or abandonment will deprive the other person permanently of its use or benefit;
(d) Demands any consideration to which he or she is not legally entitled as a condition of restoring the thing of value to the other person; or
(e) Knowingly retains the thing of value more than seventy-two hours after the agreed-upon time of return in any lease or hire agreement.
(1.5) For the purposes of this section, a thing of value is that of “another” if anyone other than the defendant has a possessory or proprietary interest therein.
(2) Theft is:
(b) A class 1 petty offense if the value of the thing involved is less than fifty dollars;
(c) A class 3 misdemeanor if the value of the thing involved is fifty dollars or more but less than three hundred dollars;
(d) A class 2 misdemeanor if the value of the thing involved is three hundred dollars or more but less than seven hundred fifty dollars;
(e) A class 1 misdemeanor if the value of the thing involved is seven hundred fifty dollars or more but less than two thousand dollars;
(f) A class 6 felony if the value of the thing involved is two thousand dollars or more but less than five thousand dollars;
(g) A class 5 felony if the value of the thing involved is five thousand dollars or more but less than twenty thousand dollars;
(h) A class 4 felony if the value of the thing involved is twenty thousand dollars or more but less than one hundred thousand dollars;
(i) A class 3 felony if the value of the thing involved is one hundred thousand dollars or more but less than one million dollars; and
(j) A class 2 felony if the value of the thing involved is one million dollars or more.
H. Michael’s Take:
This change in Colorado’s Theft Law was long overdue.. The old law permitted felony charges to be filed if the value of an item taken was only $1,000.00. Now – to reach the lowest felony level the minimum amount has been doubled to $2,000.00… and the level of felony that can be charged is the lowest felony – and F-6 …a much more realistic appraisal of the costs of goods sold in 2013.
To reach the LEVEL 4 felony (F-4) under the old law ( possible punishment 2 to 6 years in prison – the $1,000.00 level was the jurisdictional minimum. Today it is $20,000.00 or TWENTY TIMES the old floor.
The new law allows more cases to go to trial – without the risk of a permanent felony conviction.. H