Any person who shall obtain food, lodging, services or other accommodations at any hotel, inn, restaurant, boarding house, rooming house, motel or auto camp, with intent to defraud the owner or keeper thereof, if the value of such food, lodging, services or other accommodations is less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding three (3) months, or punished by both such fine and imprisonment, and if the value of such food, lodging, services or accommodations is valued at One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more, any person convicted hereunder shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a term not exceeding five (5) years. Any person who shall obtain shelter, lodging, or any other services at any apartment house, apartment, rental unit, rental house, or trailer camp, with intent to defraud the owner or keeper thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding three (3) months, or be punished by both fine and imprisonment. Proof that such lodging, food, services or other accommodations were obtained by false pretense or by false or fictitious show or pretense of any baggage or other property, or that he gave a check on which payment was refused, or that he left the hotel, inn, restaurant, boarding house, rooming house, motel, apartment house, apartment, rental unit or rental house, trailer camp or auto camp, without payment or offering to pay for such food, lodging, services or other accommodation, or that he surreptitiously removed or attempted to remove his baggage, or that he registered under a fictitious name, shall be prima facie proof of the intent to defraud mentioned in this section; but this section shall not apply where there has been an agreement in writing for delay in payment.
Added by Laws 1915, c. 178, § 1. Amended by Laws 1963, c. 127, § 1, emerg. eff. June 3, 1963; Laws 1968, c. 205, § 1, emerg. eff. April 22, 1968; Laws 1993, c. 147, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Laws 1997, c. 133, § 364, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 1999, 1st Ex. Sess., c. 5, § 256, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 2001, c. 437, § 6, eff. July 1, 2001; State Question No. 780, Initiative Petition No. 404, § 11, adopted at General Election held on November 8, 2016, eff. July 1, 2017.
NOTE: Laws 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., c. 2, § 23 amended the effective date of Laws 1997, c. 133, § 364 from July 1, 1998, to July 1, 1999.