California Penal Code

§ 537

PEN § 537 Effective Jan 25, 2010Title 13 · Part 1 · Ch. 8

Statute text

(a)Any person who obtains any food, fuel, services, or accommodations at a hotel, inn, restaurant, boardinghouse, lodginghouse, apartment house, bungalow court, motel, marina, marine facility, autocamp, ski area, or public or private campground, without paying therefor, with intent to defraud the proprietor or manager thereof, or who obtains credit at an hotel, inn, restaurant, boardinghouse, lodginghouse, apartment house, bungalow court, motel, marina, marine facility, autocamp, or public or private campground by the use of any false pretense, or who, after obtaining credit, food, fuel, services, or accommodations, at an hotel, inn, restaurant, boardinghouse, lodginghouse, apartment house, bungalow court, motel, marina, marine facility, autocamp, or public or private campground, absconds, or surreptitiously, or by force, menace, or threats, removes any part of his or her baggage therefrom with the intent not to pay for his or her food or accommodations is guilty of a public offense punishable as follows:

(1)If the value of the credit, food, fuel, services, or accommodations is nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) or less, by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding six months, or both.

(2)If the value of the credit, food, fuel, services, or accommodations is greater than nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), by imprisonment in a county jail for a term of not more than one year, or in the state prison.

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Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2009, 3rd Ex. Sess., Ch. 28, Sec. 27. (SB 18 3x) Effective January 25, 2010.