PRINTER'S NO. 611
No. 587 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY O'PAKE, MUSTO, C. WILLIAMS, ERICKSON, COSTA,
LAVALLE, ORIE, LOGAN, RAFFERTY, TARTAGLIONE, STOUT, PIPPY AND
LEMMOND, APRIL 1, 2005
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, APRIL 1, 2005
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, further providing for theft by
3 deception, misapplication of entrusted property and property
4 of government or financial institutions and for securing
5 execution of documents by deception.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Sections 3922, 4113 and 4114 of Title 18 of the
9 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
10 § 3922. Theft by deception.
11 (a) Offense defined.--A person is guilty of theft if he
12 intentionally obtains or withholds property of another by
13 deception. A person deceives if he intentionally:
14 (1) creates or reinforces a false impression, including
15 false impressions as to law, value, intention or other state
16 of mind; but deception as to a person's intention to perform
17 a promise shall not be inferred from the fact alone that he
18 did not subsequently perform the promise;
19 (2) prevents another from acquiring information which
1 would affect his judgment of a transaction; or
2 (3) fails to correct a false impression which the
3 deceiver previously created or reinforced, or which the
4 deceiver knows to be influencing another to whom he stands in
5 a fiduciary or confidential relationship.
6 (b) Exception.--The term "deceive" does not, however,
7 include falsity as to matters having no pecuniary significance,
8 or puffing by statements unlikely to deceive ordinary persons in
9 the group addressed.
10 (c) Grading.--Notwithstanding section 3903 (relating to
11 grading of theft offenses), theft by deception is graded as a
12 felony of the second degree where it is committed by a person
13 who has placed himself in a special position of trust to a
14 victim 65 years of age or older.
15 § 4113. Misapplication of entrusted property and property of
16 government or financial institutions.
17 (a) Offense defined.--A person commits an offense if he
18 applies or disposes of property that has been entrusted to him
19 as a fiduciary, or property of the government or of a financial
20 institution, in a manner which he knows is unlawful and involves
21 substantial risk of loss or detriment to the owner of the
22 property or to a person for whose benefit the property was
23 entrusted.
24 (b) Grading.--The offense is a felony of the second degree
25 when it is committed by a person who has placed himself in a
26 special position of trust to a victim 65 years of age or older.
27 Otherwise, it is a misdemeanor of the second degree if the
28 amount involved exceeds $50[; otherwise it is] and a misdemeanor
29 of the third degree when it involves an amount of $50 or less.
30 § 4114. Securing execution of documents by deception.
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1 A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if by
2 deception he causes another to execute any instrument affecting
3 or purporting to affect or likely to affect the pecuniary
4 interest of any person. The offense constitutes a felony of the
5 second degree where the offender has placed himself in a special
6 position of trust to a victim 65 years of age or older.
7 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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