Receiving stolen property
Also known as: Possession of stolen property · Fencing · Chop shop · Trafficking in stolen vehicles
Buying, receiving, concealing or selling property known to be stolen — the crime that turns stolen vehicles and cargo into money through fences and chop shops.
Legal basis
California Penal Code §496
Theft needs a market. Receiving stolen property is the link that pays for it: the buyer of stolen parts, the yard that re-tags a car, the warehouse that absorbs a hijacked load. States define the offense in their penal codes; California's Penal Code §496, for example, covers anyone who buys, receives, conceals, sells or withholds property knowing it was stolen.
Federal law reaches the interstate trade. Receiving, concealing or selling a motor vehicle that crossed a state or US boundary after being stolen, knowing it was stolen, carries up to 10 years (18 U.S.C. §2313); goods worth $5,000 or more carry a similar offense (§2315); and owning or operating a chop shop carries up to 15 years (§2322).
For insurers, lenders and fleets, the fence is where the asset disappears. Vehicles that stop at the same locations as earlier losses, parts networks connected to known claimants, and cargo that goes dark near the same warehouses are patterns visible in location and relationship data long before a case is built.
Frequently asked questions
Is buying something you didn't know was stolen a crime?
Generally the offense requires knowing, or in some states having reason to know, that the property was stolen. Even without a crime, the property can be seized and returned to its owner, and the buyer loses what they paid.