ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 389
(Senators Oliverio, Ross and Ball, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 11, 2000; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fifty-five, relating to creating the criminal offense of
failure to pay for gasoline; establishing criminal penalties;
and providing for the suspension of a license to operate a
motor vehicle.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
fifty-five, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-55. Failure to pay for gasoline.
Any person who knowingly and willfully drives a motor vehicle
off the premises of an establishment where gasoline offered for
retail sale was dispensed into the fuel tank of the motor vehicle
with the intent to avoid payment for the gasoline that was so
dispensed shall be deemed to be guilty of the larceny thereof. In
addition to the penalties provided for by the provisions of section
thirteen, article three of this chapter, upon a second conviction
for larceny of gasoline, the court shall order the suspension of
the person's license to drive a motor vehicle for six months, and
upon a third or subsequent conviction, the court shall order the
suspension of the person's license to drive a motor vehicle for one
year.
Whenever a second or subsequent offense is had under the
provisions of this section, the clerk of the court shall transmit
a certified abstract of the judgment to the division of motor
vehicles within seventy-two hours of the conviction. Upon receipt
of the abstract of judgment the division of motor vehicles shall
enter an order suspending the person's license to operate a motor
vehicle for the appropriate time period.