COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 4641

(By Delegate Thompson)


(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary)


[March 1, 2000]


A BILL to amend article three-a, 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 four-a, relating to creating criminal offenses involving theft detection shielding devices; penalties; right to detain person suspected of violation; and, immunity from civil or criminal liability for detainers.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three-a, 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 four-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3A. SHOPLIFTING.

§61-3A-4a. Criminal offenses involving theft detection shielding devices; detention.

(a) A person commits unlawful use of a theft detection shielding device when they knowingly manufacture, sell, offer for sale or distributes any laminated or coated bag or device peculiar to and marketed for shielding and intended to shield merchandise from detection by an electronic or magnetic theft alarm sensor.
(b) A person commits unlawful possession of a theft detection shielding device when they knowingly possess any laminated or coated bag or device peculiar to and designed for shielding and intended to shield merchandise from detection by an electronic or magnetic theft alarm sensor, with the intent to commit theft or retail theft.
(c) A person commits unlawful possession of a theft detection shielding device remover when they knowingly possess any tool or device designed to allow the removal of any theft detection device from any merchandise with the intent to use such tool to remove any theft detection device from any merchandise without the permission of the merchant or person owning or holding said merchandise.
(d) A person commits unlawful removal of a theft detection device when they intentionally remove the device from merchandise prior to purchase.
(e) Any person convicted for violating the provisions of subsections (a), (b), or (c) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a county or regional jail for not less six months nor more than one year and fined not less than five hundred dollars.
(f) Any person convicted of violating the provisions of subsection (d) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and such fine shall not be suspended, or the person shall be confined in the county or regional jail not more than sixty days, or both.
(g) The activation of an anti-shoplifting or inventory control device as a result of a person exiting the establishment or a protected area within the establishment shall constitute reasonable cause for the detention of the person so exiting by the owner or operator or the establishment or by an agent or employee of the owner or operator, provided sufficient notice has been posted to advise the patrons that such a device is being utilized. Each such detention shall be made only in a reasonable manner and only for a reasonable period of time sufficient for any inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the activation of the device or for the recovery of goods.
(h) Such taking into custody and detention by a law-enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee, if done in compliance with all the requirements of this section, does not render such law-enforcement officer, merchant, or merchant's employee criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, or unlawful detention.