                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CONCEALING OR TAKING POSSESSION OF MERCHANDISE; ALTERING PRICE TAGS;
TRANSFERRING GOODS FROM ONE CONTAINER TO ANOTHER; COUNSELING, ETC., ANOTHER IN
PERFORMANCE OF SUCH ACTS (§ 18.2-103)

Whoever, without authority, with the intention of converting goods or
merchandise to his own or another&#8217;s use without having paid the full
purchase price thereof, or of defrauding the owner of the value of the goods or
merchandise, (i) willfully conceals or takes possession of the goods or
merchandise of any store or other mercantile establishment, or (ii) alters the
price tag or other price marking on such goods or merchandise, or transfers the
goods from one container to another, or (iii) counsels, assists, aids or abets
another in the performance of any of the above acts, when the value of the goods
or merchandise involved in the offense is less than $1,000, shall be guilty of
petit larceny and, when the value of the goods or merchandise involved in the
offense is $1,000 or more, shall be guilty of grand larceny. The willful
concealment of goods or merchandise of any store or other mercantile
establishment, while still on the premises thereof, shall be prima facie
evidence of an intent to convert and defraud the owner thereof out of the value
of the goods or merchandise.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 18.1-126; 1960, c. 358; 1970, c. 652; 1975, cc. 14, 15;
1994, c. 706; 2018, cc. 764, 765; 2020, cc. 89, 401.