AN ACT to amend various larceny statutes and to create the criminal offenses of organized retail theft.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G. S. 14‑71 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14‑71.  Receiving stolen goods; receiving or possessing goods represented as stolen.
(a)	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.
(b)	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 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."
SECTION 2.  Article 16 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended is by adding a new section to read:
"§ 14‑72.11.  Larceny from a merchant.
A person is guilty of a Class H felony if the person commits larceny against a merchant under any of the following circumstances:
(1)	If the property taken has a value of more than two hundred dollars ($200.00), by using an exit door erected and maintained to comply with the requirements of 29 C.F.R. § 1910 Subpart E, upon which door has been placed a notice, sign, or poster providing information about the felony offense and punishment provided under this subsection, to exit the premises of a store.
(2)	By removing, destroying, or deactivating a component of an antishoplifting or inventory control device to prevent the activation of any antishoplifting or inventory control device.
(3)	By affixing a product code created for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining goods or merchandise from a merchant at less than its actual sale price.
(4)	When the property is infant formula valued in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00). As used in this subsection, the term "infant formula," has the same meaning as found in 21 U.S.C. § 321(z)."
SECTION 3.  Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new article to read:
"Article 16A.
"Organized Retail Theft.
"§ 14‑86.5.  Definitions.
The following definitions apply in this Article:
(1)	"Retail property." – Any new article, product, commodity, item, or component intended to be sold in retail commerce.
(2)	"Retail property fence." – A person or business that buys retail property knowing or believing that retail property is stolen.
(3)	"Theft." – To take possession of, carry away, transfer, or cause to be carried away the retail property of another with the intent to steal the retail property.
(4)	"Value." – The retail value of an item as advertised by the affected retail establishment, to include all applicable taxes.
"§ 14‑86.6.  Organized retail theft.
(a)	A person is guilty of a Class H felony if the person:
(1)	Conspires with another person to commit theft of retail property from a retail establishment, with a value exceeding one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) aggregated over a 90‑day period, with the intent to sell that retail property for monetary or other gain, and who takes or causes that retail property to be placed in the control of a retail property fence or other person in exchange for consideration.
(2)	Receives or possesses any retail property that has been taken or stolen in violation of subdivision (1) of this subsection while knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe the property is stolen.
(b)	Any interest a person has acquired or maintained in violation of this section shall be subject to forfeiture pursuant to the procedures for forfeiture set out in G.S. 18B‑504."
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2007, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 2nd day of August, 2007.

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		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

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		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

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		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2007