Theft of services

1. Law
2. Arkansas Code
3. Criminal Offenses
4. Offenses Against Property
5. Theft
6. General Provisions
7. Theft of services

1. (a) A person commits theft of services if, with purpose to defraud:

   1. (1) The person purposely obtains a service that he or she knows to be available only for compensation, by deception, threat, or other means to avoid payment for the service; or

   2. (2) Having control over the disposition of a service to which he or she is not entitled, the person purposely diverts the service to his or her own benefit or to the benefit of another person not entitled to the service.

2. (b) In a circumstance in which payment is ordinarily made immediately upon the rendering of a service, absconding without payment or offer to pay gives rise to a presumption that the actor obtained the service with the purpose of avoiding payment.

3. (c) Theft of services is a:

   1. (1) Class B felony if:

      1. (A) The value of the service is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more;

      2. (B) The service is obtained by the threat of serious physical injury to any person or destruction of the occupiable structure of another person;

      3. (C) The service is obtained by threat, and the actor stands in a confidential or fiduciary relationship to the person threatened; or

      4. (D) The theft of services involves a theft of a utility service that results in:

         1. (i) Any contamination of a line, pipe, waterline, meter, or other utility property; or

         2. (ii) A spill, dumping, or release of any hazardous material into the environment;

   2. (2) Class C felony if:

      1. (A) The value of the service is less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) but more than five thousand dollars ($5,000); or

      2. (B) The service is obtained by threat;

   3. (3) Class D felony if the value of the service is five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less but more than one thousand dollars ($1,000); or

   4. (4) Class A misdemeanor if the theft of services:

      1. (A) Involves a theft of a utility service that results in the destruction or damage to a line, pipe, waterline, meter, or any other property of the utility; or

      2. (B) Is otherwise committed.

4. (d)

   1. (1) In addition to any other fine that may be levied under § 5-4-201, any person found guilty of theft of services under this section is required to make full restitution to the utility from which the service was obtained if the theft of services involves the theft of a utility service such as a gas, electricity, water, telephone, or cable television service.

   2. (2) For a prosecution brought under this subsection to enable the court to properly fix the amount of restitution, after appropriate investigation the prosecuting attorney shall recommend an amount that would make the utility whole with respect to:

      1. (A) The value of the service received;

      2. (B) The cost of repair of any damage to any:

         1. (i) Line;

         2. (ii) Pipe;

         3. (iii) Waterline;

         4. (iv) Meter; or

         5. (v) Other utility property; and

      3. (C) Any other measurable monetary damage directly related to the offense, including the expense of investigation.

   3. (3) If the defendant disagrees with the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney, he or she is entitled to introduce evidence in mitigation of the amount recommended.

   4. (4) The monetary judgment for restitution, as provided in this section, becomes a judgment against the offender and has the same force and effect as any other civil judgment recorded in this state.

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