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The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Section 30D: Organized retail crime; aggravated organized retail crime; leader of organized retail theft enterprise; penalty

Section 30D. (a) For purposes of this section, ''retail merchandise'' shall mean 1 or more items of tangible personal property displayed, held, stored or offered for sale in a retail establishment.

(b) A person commits an organized retail crime if the person, acting in concert with 2 or more persons and within a 180 day period steals, embezzles or obtains by fraud, false pretense or other illegal means retail merchandise valued at more than $2,500 to resell or otherwise reenter such retail merchandise into commerce; provided, that a series of thefts from 1 or more mercantile establishments may be aggregated; provided further, that said person may be prosecuted in any county where a theft from a mercantile establishment occurred.

A violation of this subsection shall be punished by imprisonment in a state prison for not more than 10 years.

(c) A person commits an aggravated organized retail crime if the person, acting in concert with 2 or more persons and within a 180 day period, steals, embezzles or obtains by fraud, false pretense or other illegal means retail merchandise valued at more than $10,000 to resell or otherwise reenter such retail merchandise into commerce; provided, that a series of thefts from 1 or more mercantile establishments may be aggregated; provided further, that said person may be prosecuted in any county where a theft from a mercantile establishment occurred.

A violation of this subsection shall be punished by imprisonment in a state prison for not more than 15 years.

(d) A person shall be a leader of an organized retail theft enterprise if the person conspires with others as an organizer, supervisor, financier or manager, to commit an organized retail crime or an aggravated organized retail crime. A leader of organized retail crime may be punished by a fine of not more than $250,000 or 5 times the retail value of the merchandise seized at the time of the arrest, whichever is greater, or imprisonment in state prison for not more than 20 years, or both such fine and imprisonment.