North Carolina § 14-71 - Receiving stolen goods; receiving or possessing goods represented as stolen.

§ 14-71. Receiving stolen goods; receiving or possessing goods represented as stolen.

If any person shall receive any chattel, property, money, valuable security or other thing whatsoever, the stealing or taking whereof amounts to larceny or a felony, either at common law or by virtue of any statute made or hereafter to be made, such person knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe the same to have been feloniously stolen or taken, he shall be guilty of a Class H felony, and may be indicted and convicted, whether the felon stealing and taking such chattels, property, money, valuable security or other thing, shall or shall not have been previously convicted, or shall or shall not be amenable to justice; and any such receiver may be dealt with, indicted, tried and punished in any county in which he shall have, or shall have had, any such property in his possession or in any county in which the thief may be tried, in the same manner as such receiver may be dealt with, indicted, tried and punished in the county where he actually received such chattel, money, security, or other thing; and such receiver shall be punished as one convicted of larceny. If a person knowingly receives or possesses property in the custody of a law enforcement agency that was explicitly represented to the person by an agent of the law enforcement agency or a person authorized to act on behalf of a law enforcement agency as stolen, the person is guilty of a Class H felony and may be indicted, tried, and punished in any county in which the person received or possessed the property. History (1797, c. 485, s. 2; R.C., c. 34, s. 56; Code, s. 1074; Rev., s. 3507; C.S., s. 4250; 1949, c. 145, s. 1; 1975, c. 163, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 1164; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2007-373, s. 1; 2008-187, s. 34(a).) Cross References. - As to seizure and forfeiture of conveyance used in committing a crime under this section, see G.S. 14-86.1 . Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2007-373, s. 1, effective December 1, 2007, and applicable to offenses committed on or after that date, added "receiving or possessing goods represented as stolen" at the end of the section catchline; designated the previously existing provisions as subsection (a); and added subsection (b). Session Laws 2008-187, s. 34(a), effective August 7, 2008, inserted "or a person authorized to act on behalf of a law enforcement agency" in subsection (b). Legal Periodicals. - As to elements of crime of receiving stolen goods, see 26 N.C.L. Rev. 192 (1948).