Penal Code § 484(a) PC – Petty Theft – California Law & Penalties

California Penal Code § 484(a) PC prohibits “petty theft,” which is wrongfully taking or stealing someone else’s property valued at $950 or less. Petty theft is a misdemeanor punishable by

• probation,
• fines,
• restitution and
• up to 6 months in county jail.

Officers tend to write this charge on a citation as PC 484 or 484 PC as abbreviations for the California Penal Code. Note that stealing from retail establishments is instead prosecuted as shoplifting (PC 459.5), though it carries the same penalties as petty theft.

Examples of Petty Theft

• Borrowing a neighbor’s $300 serving tray and purposefully does not return it
• Swiping a lipstick from a colleague’s desk while they are away in a meeting
• Taking a smartphone from a shipment of phones belonging to one’s employer

Stealing property valued at more than $950 is grand theft, though theft of guns or cars is treated as grand theft regardless of the value. Pick-pocketing is also always charged as grand theft.

The following chart compares the differences between petty theft and grand theft in California.

CALIFORNIA LAW	Petty Theft	Grand Theft
Penal Code	484(a) & 488 PC	484(a) & 487 PC
Definition	Theft of property valued at $950 or less	Theft of property valued over $950, or theft of any firearm or motor vehicle
Penalties	Misdemeanor: Up to 6 months in county jail and/or fine up to $1000	Misdemeanor: Up to 1 year in county jail or Felony: 16 months, 2 or 3 years in state prison
Defenses	Claim of right, lack of intent, mistaken identity	Claim of right, lack of intent, mistaken identity
Probation	Possible	Possible
Immigration	May be deportable as a crime of moral turpitude	May be deportable as a crime of moral turpitude
Gun Rights	No impact	A felony conviction triggers a loss of gun rights

Now that Proposition 36 has passed, petty theft can be punished as a felony carrying up to three years of incarceration if you have two prior theft-related offenses.

Below our California criminal defense attorneys discuss what you need to know about petty theft. Click on a topic to jump to that section.

• 1. Elements
• 2. Types of Petty Theft
• 3. Defenses
• 4. Penalties
• 5. Immigration Consequences
• 6. Expungements
• 7. Gun Rights
• 8. Related Offenses
• Additional Reading

1. Elements

Petty theft, per PC 484 and PC 488, is the unlawful taking of property worth $950 or less.¹

The elements of this crime are spelled out in California Criminal Jury Instruction “CALCRIM” 1800. For you to be convicted of petty theft, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the following five elements:

1. you took possession of property owned by someone else,
2. the property is valued at $950 or less,
3. you took the property without the owner’s consent,
4. when you took the property, you intended to deprive the owner of it permanently, and
5. you moved the property, even a small distance, and kept it for any period of time, however brief.²

Aspects of these elements are discussed in more detail below.

Owner vs. Possessor

The theft victim does not have to be the owner of the property.³ It is enough if the victim is just in possession (“control”) of the property.⁴

Intent to Deprive

For prosecutors to prove you intended to deprive an owner permanently of their property, it is enough to show that:

• you intended to deprive an owner of the main value of their property, and
• this intent was for a given time.⁵

You may try to defend against a theft accusation by showing that you intended to return the property you took. However, you must return the property within a reasonable time of taking it.

A judge or jury will decide what is a “reasonable time” by examining the facts of the case.⁶

Moving of Property

For a completed theft crime, you must have moved the property or carried it away.⁷ This is called “asportation” and must include three things:

1. the property in question is severed from the possession of the owner or possessor,
2. the goods are in your complete possession, and
3. the property is moved, however slightly.⁸

Multiple Items Stolen

The theft of multiple items will count as one single theft charge if:

• the multiple items are stolen from a single victim, and
• the takings are part of one intent, plan, or impulse.⁹

Then the value of the stolen property will be the combined value of everything you took in each theft.¹⁰

Use or Benefit of Property Taken

For a theft conviction, it does not matter whether you intended to use the property taken or benefit from it. There just needs to be an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property.¹¹

Value of the Items

In determining the property’s correct value, courts use “fair market value.”¹²

Fair market value is defined as the highest price the property would reasonably have sold for in the open market at the time, and in the place, where it was stolen.¹³

2. Types of Petty Theft

Theft by Larceny

Most petty theft cases involve “larceny.” Petty larceny typically occurs when you physically take and carry off another person’s property valued at $950 or lower.

Example: Betty is at a house party when she steals the host’s old iPad, valued at $350. If caught, she would be charged with petty larceny.

Theft by Trick

Theft by trick occurs when you use fraud to deceive a property owner into letting you possess the property.¹⁴

Example: David accosts Michael on the street and asks to use his phone to make an emergency call. After Michael hands over his phone, David walks away with it. If caught, David faces theft by trick charges.

Theft by Embezzlement

Theft by embezzlement (Penal Code 503) occurs when someone entrusts you with their property, and you use it for your own benefit.¹⁵

Example:  Jewelry store owner Sam gives his assistant Fred the key to the store while Sam goes on vacation. Fred then pawns some of the jewelry for cash. If caught, Fred could be charged with embezzlement.¹⁶  It is not a defense if Fred intended to return the property.¹⁷

Many white-collar crimes involve embezzlement where financial services employees take money from funds or trusts they were allowed to access.

Theft by Fraud or False Pretenses

Under Penal Code 532, you commit theft by fraud or false pretense when you defraud a property owner into giving you possession and ownership of their property.¹⁸

Example: Alex offers to mow his neighbor’s lawn for a year in return for their lawn mower. The neighbor hands over the mower, but Alex never mows the lawn. If caught, Alex faces theft by false pretense charges because the neighbor relied on Alex’s fraud.¹⁹

3. Defenses

In Shouse Law Group’s decades of combined experience fighting petty theft charges in California, we found that four of the most effective defense strategies for getting these cases dismissed is to show the following.

You Took the Property by Accident

It is not uncommon for people to walk away with property that is not theirs because they are distracted. We see these cases a lot when clients are on the phone and are not paying attention to what they are doing.

Accidents are not crimes. You may have to repay the owner for what you took, but criminal charges cannot stand as long as your actions were inadvertent.

You Acted with the Owner’s Consent

In these cases, our criminal defense lawyers would compile all the evidence that indicates the property owner consented to you taking the property. This typically includes recorded communications such as text messages, emails, and voicemails.

Perhaps we can also find eyewitnesses who heard the owner consent or video footage that shows the owner giving consent.

You Borrowed the Property

To raise a reasonable doubt, our law office would rely on such evidence as your GPS records or any available surveillance video footage that shows you attempted to return the property within a reasonable time after you took it.

You may also have text messages or other recorded communications indicating that you only intended to borrow and not keep the property.

You Had a Claim of Right

Taking is not theft if you believed you had a right to the property you took – even if that belief is mistaken or unreasonable.²⁰

Here, our law firm would find all the relevant paperwork that would cause you to believe you owned the property in question, such as receipts, bills of sale, invoices, or written communications memorializing a transfer of property. In some cases, we can also use a polygraph to show that you genuinely thought the property was yours.

4. Penalties

Petty theft is charged as a misdemeanor under California criminal law. It is punishable by:

• imprisonment in the county jail for up to six months, and/or
• a maximum fine of $1,000.

Instead of jail, a judge may grant you misdemeanor (or summary) probation for up to two years.

If the judge assigns you to probation longer than one year – and you are under 25 years old – the court must if possible refer you to a program modeled on healing-centered, restorative, trauma-informed, and positive youth development approaches and that is provided in collaboration with community-based organizations.

Depending on the case, the judge may also issue a restraining order requiring you to stay away from the theft victim.

Now that Proposition 36 has passed, petty theft can be punished as a felony carrying up to three years of incarceration if you have two prior theft-related offenses such petty theft, grand theft, burglary, robbery, or carjacking. A felony carries 16 months, 2 years, or 3 years of incarceration.²¹

Plea Bargains

In our experience, we can usually secure a resolution where you do no jail time at all and merely pay a fine and possibly restitution.

Sometimes prosecutors will reduce the charge down to an infraction under PC 490.1. Though in many cases, you can do a diversion program, which results in your charge getting dismissed: This way, no conviction shows up on future background checks by prospective employers.

Petty Theft with a Prior

Petty theft is charged as petty theft with a prior under PC 666 if you already have served jail or prison for a prior conviction of either:

• petty theft (Penal Code 488 PC),
• grand theft (Penal Code 487 PC),
• burglary (Penal Code 459 PC),
• carjacking (Penal Code 215 PC),
• robbery (Penal Code 211 PC), and/or
• felony receiving stolen property (Penal Code 496 PC).³

Petty theft with a prior is a wobbler, meaning it can be a misdemeanor or a felony, as this chart shows:

PC 666 conviction	California Penalties
Misdemeanor	Up to 1 year in county jail
Felony	16 months, 2 years, or 3 years in county jail

Retail Theft Cases

The court can issue a two-year restraining order barring you from entering the retail establishment you were convicted of stealing from.

It is a separate crime under PC 496.6 to possess shoplifted retail property valued at more than $950 with the intent to sell, exchange, or return it. This offense – called unlawful deprivation of a retail business opportunity – is a wobbler.

As a misdemeanor, violating PC 496.6 carries up to one year in jail. As a felony, violating PC 496.6 carries a jail sentence of either:

• 16 months,
• 2 years, or
• 3 years.

Also, you may face sentencing enhancements for selling, returning, or exchanging property you acquired through retail theft, as this chart shows:²²

Value of Property Acquired through Retail Theft	Sentencing Enhancement in California for Selling, Exchanging, or Returning the Property
Greater than $50,000 to $200,000	1 year
Greater than $200,000 to $1,000,000	2 years
Greater than $1,000,000 to $3,000,000	3 years
Greater than $3,000,0000	4 years plus 1 year for each property value of $3,000,000

5. Immigration Consequences

A petty theft conviction may have negative immigration consequences. One California court has stated that when you commit petty theft by using an intent to defraud, the offense is considered a crime of moral turpitude.²³

In addition, there has been a case in which an immigrant was deported for violating PC 484, and that deportation was held as valid.²⁴

6. Expungements

If you are convicted under 484 PC, you can get the offense expunged if you:

1. successfully completed probation, and
2. are not currently:
   • charged with a criminal offense,
   • on probation, or
   • serving a sentence.²⁵

Under Penal Code 1203.4, an expungement releases you from virtually “all penalties and disabilities” arising out of the conviction. Having an expunged criminal record will greatly improve your job prospects.²⁶

7. Gun Rights

A conviction under Penal Code 484 does not affect your gun rights. Petty theft is not one of the California misdemeanors that carries a 10-year firearm ban.

8. Related Offenses

• Burglary – Penal Code 459 PC
• Grand theft – Penal Code 487 PC
• Grand theft auto – Penal Code 487d1 PC
• Mail theft – Penal Code 530.5e PC
• Robbery – Penal Code 211 PC

Additional Reading

For more information on theft laws, refer to the following:

• What to Know About Being Addicted to Stealing – Article by WebMD.
• Cleptomaniacs And Shoplifters Anonymous, LLC (CASA) – Self-help group to help overcome compulsive stealing.
• National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) – Provides programs and services to help stem shoplifting.
• Retail Theft and Robbery Rates Have Risen across California – Article by the Public Policy Institute of California.
• Tax evasion and mechanisms of social control: A comparison with grand and petty theft – Scholarly article in Journal of Economic Psychology.

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