ENGROSSED

Senate Bill No. 359

(By Senators Wooton, Ball, Bowman, Dittmar, Hunter, Kessler, Oliverio, Ross, White, Buckalew, Deem, Kimble and Scott)

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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;


reported January 30, 1998.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-four-d, article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to fraudulent schemes; clarifying who or what entities may be victims; and allowing for cumulation of scheme amounts.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-four-d, article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.

§61-3-24d. Fraudulent schemes; cumulation of amounts where common scheme exists; penalties.

(a) Any person who willfully deprives another any person or entity, public or private, of any money, goods, property or services by means of fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises shall be guilty of the larceny thereof.
(b) In determining the value of the money, goods, property or services referred to in subsection (a) of this section, it shall be permissible to cumulate amounts or values where such money, goods, property or services were fraudulently obtained the subject of the deprivation as part of a common scheme or plan. In determining the value of the money, goods, property or services referred to in subsection (a) of this section, it shall also be permissible to cumulate amounts or values where more than one person or victim was involved where such money, goods, property or services were the subject of the deprivation as part of a common scheme or plan.
(c) A violation of law may be prosecuted under this section notwithstanding any other provision of this code.