Senate Bill No. 199
(By Senator Rowe, Mitchell and Hunter)
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[Introduced January 14, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty, article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to making multiple acts of vandalism a felony when the total damage done exceeds five thousand dollars; and specifying criminal penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty, 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.

§61-3-30. Removal, injury to or destruction of property, monuments designating land boundaries and of certain no trespassing signs; penalties.

If any person unlawfully, but not feloniously, take and carry away, or destroy, injure or deface any property, real or personal, not his own, he shall be
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, any person who takes and carries away, or destroys, injures or defaces any property not belonging to him or her is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned confined in the county or regional jail not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned confined.
(b)(1) A person is guilty of a felony when the

and the damage done exceeds five thousand dollars. Upon conviction thereof, the person shall be fined at least five thousand dollars and not more than thirty thousand dollars and imprisoned in a correctional facility under the supervision of the division of corrections for a definite term of at least one year and not more than five years.
(2) Two or more acts committed in violation of this section pursuant to one scheme or continuing course of conduct, whether from the same or several acts upon the property of one or more property owners, may be considered as one offense and the value of damage to the various properties may be aggregated in determining the penalty.
If any person shall break down, destroy, injure, deface or remove
(c) Any person who breaks down, destroys, injures, defaces or removes any monument erected for the purpose of designating the boundaries of a municipality, tract or lot of land, or any tree marked for that purpose, or any sign or notice upon private property designating no trespassing upon such the property, except signs or notices posted in accordance with the provisions and purposes of sections seven, eight and ten, article two, chapter twenty of this code, he shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars, or imprisoned confined in the county or regional jail not less than one nor more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned

Justices of the peace and
(d) Magistrates shall have concurrent jurisdiction of all offenses arising under the provisions subsections (a) and (c) of this section.
(e) The provisions of this paragraph shall

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make multiple acts of vandalism a felony when the total damage done exceeds $5,000.00.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.