If you take a skirt, shoes or even groceries without paying from H & M, Saks Fifth Avenue or Whole Foods respectively, well, then, you must have committed a theft. Clearly, if you walked out of the store concealing the property or just without paying you are going to get…
“Stealing” is a term that we would all likely define in a similar way. Whether it is a shoplifting from Macys, Bloomingdales or Century 21 or it is a theft of a briefcase from a car or subway platform, the New York criminal law requires that certain elements be met.…
New York City public school teachers, just like members of any profession, are not immune from arrests, Desk Appearance Tickets (often called NY DATs), indictments or convictions for crimes set forth in the New York Penal Law. In New York City – Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx – the…
A very simple (yes, very simple) way to examine or understand New York’s theft and larceny laws is to look at value of property that is alleged to have been stolen. If you steal property in excess of $1,000, then your arrest would be for a felony Grand Larceny. If…
In a previous post, we explained that under New York’s larceny laws, offenses relating to Criminal Possession of Stolen Property require that a prosecutor introduce evidence showing a defendant “knowingly possessed” the stolen property in question. We explained that, given the language of the statute, courts have held that a…
While Grand Larceny crimes are vastly more serious than their misdemeanor Petit Larceny counterparts, the theft cases that fill the dockets of New York Criminal Courts and the calendars of New York criminal lawyers – from Manhattan, to Queens, out to Westchester and Rockland Counties- usually involve violations of the…
One may assume that failure to pay a bar tab automatically violates New York Penal Law 165.15. In fact, Theft of Services – a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail – is often the crime charged in such cases when an individual is arrested for…