Full question:
I purchased something on eBay for $250. and the person used the us postal service to facilitate the transaction that was theft by deception and did not receive anything. What type of penalty will this person get?
- Category: Criminal
- Date:
- State: New York
Answer:
Theft of mail placed in the hands of the US postal service is a federal criminal offense.
Here is the statute creating the offense that carrys a jail sentence of up to 5 years if convicted:
Sec. 1708. Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally
Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception
obtains, or attempts so to obtain, from or out of any mail, post office,
or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or any mail route or
other authorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter or mail
carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or abstracts or
removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or
thing contained therein, or secretes, embezzles, or destroys any such
letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing
contained therein; or
Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception
obtains any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article
or thing contained therein which has been left for collection upon or
adjacent to a collection box or other authorized depository of mail
matter; or
Whoever buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully has in his
possession, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any
article or thing contained therein, which has been so stolen, taken,
embezzled, or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the same to have
been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted--
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five
years, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 779; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, Sec. 39,
63 Stat. 95; July 1, 1952, ch. 535, 66 Stat. 314; Pub. L. 103-322, title
XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(I), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
You can ask the Ebay seller if they purchased insurance on the package, as most reputable sellers do. At a minimum they would send the package with delivery confirmation to ensure that the buyer received the item.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
