Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 5 - CRIMINAL OFFENSES (§§ 5-1-101 — 5-79-101) › Subtitle 4 - OFFENSES AGAINST PROPERTY (§§ 5-36-101 — 5-42-205) › Chapter 36 - THEFT (§§ 5-36-101 — 5-36-405) › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 5-36-101 — 5-36-126) › Section 5-36-101 - Definitions

As used in this chapter:
(1)
"Antishoplifting or inventory control device" means a mechanism or other device designed and operated for the purpose of detecting the removal from a store or business establishment or from a protected area within a store or business establishment;
(2)
"Article" means any object, material, device, or substance or copy of an object, material, device, or substance, including any writing, record, recording, drawing, sample, specimen, prototype, model, photograph, microorganism, blueprint, or map;
(3)
"Building material" means lumber, a construction tool, a window, a door, copper tubing or wire, or any other material or good used in the construction or rebuilding of a building or a structure;
(4)
"Copy" means any facsimile, replica, photograph, or other reproduction of an article, and any note, drawing, or sketch made of or from an article;
(5)
"Cost of incidental damage" means the total amount of money damages suffered by an owner of oil and gas equipment as a direct result of the theft of the oil and gas equipment, including without limitation lost income, lost profits, and cost of repair or replacement of property damage;
(6)
(A)
"Curtilage" means the land adjoining a residential occupiable structure that is habitually used for residential purposes but is not necessarily enclosed.
(B)
"Curtilage" includes an outbuilding that is directly connected with and in close proximity to the residential occupiable structure;
(7)
(A)
"Deception" means:
(i)
Creating or reinforcing a false impression, including a false impression of fact, law, value, or intention or other state of mind that the actor does not believe to be true;
(ii)
Preventing another person from acquiring information that would affect his or her judgment of a transaction;
(iii)
Failing to correct a false impression that the actor knows to be false and that he or she created or reinforced or that he or she knows to be influencing another person to whom the actor stands in a fiduciary or confidential relationship;
(iv)
Failing to disclose a lien, adverse claim, or other legal impediment to the enjoyment of property that the actor transfers or encumbers in consideration for the property or service obtained, or in order to continue to deprive another person of that other person's property, whether the impediment is or is not valid or is or is not a matter of official record; or
(v)
Employing any other scheme to defraud.
(B)
As to a person's intention to perform a promise, "deception" shall not be inferred solely from the fact that the person did not subsequently perform the promise.
(C)
"Deception" does not include:
(i)
Falsity as to a matter having no pecuniary significance; or
(ii)
Puffing by a statement unlikely to deceive an ordinary person in the group addressed;
(8)
"Deprive" means to:
(A)
Withhold property or to cause it to be withheld either permanently or under circumstances such that a major portion of its economic value, use, or benefit is appropriated to the actor or lost to the owner;
(B)
Withhold property or to cause it to be withheld with the purpose to restore it only upon the payment of a reward or other compensation; or
(C)
Dispose of property or use it or transfer any interest in it under circumstances that make its restoration unlikely;
(9)
"Incidental damage" means loss of income, loss of profit, or property damage;
(10)
"Motor fuel" means:
(A)
Gasoline, diesel fuel, or alcohol;
(B)
Any mixture of gasoline, diesel fuel, or alcohol; or
(C)
Any other fuel sold for use in an automobile or related vehicle;
(11)
"Obtain" means:
(A)
In relation to property, to bring about a transfer or purported transfer of property or of an interest in the property, whether to the actor or another person; or
(B)
In relation to a service, to secure performance of the service;
(12)
"Oil and gas equipment" means machinery, drilling mud, welding equipment, pipes, fittings, generators, pumps, batteries, or other equipment or tools used in connection with the drilling, production, operation, or maintenance of oil or gas wells, or in connection with the storage or transportation of oil or gas;
(13)
"Permitted construction site" means the site of construction, alteration, painting, or repair of a building or a structure for which a building permit has been issued by a city of the first class, a city of the second class, an incorporated town, or a county;
(14)
"Postal package" means a letter, package, parcel, bag, or container used to ship goods or a sealed article that:
(A)
Is addressed to a person and has been left for the person by a common carrier or delivery service; or
(B)
Has been left by a consumer at his or her residence to be collected by a common carrier or delivery service;
(15)
"Property" means severed real property or tangible or intangible personal property, including money or any paper or document that represents or embodies anything of value;
(16)
(A)
"Property of another person" means any property in which any person or government other than the actor has a possessory or proprietary interest.
(B)
However, "property of another person" does not include property in the possession of the actor in which another person has only a security interest, even though legal title is in the secured party pursuant to a conditional sales contract or other security agreement;
(17)
"Residential occupiable structure" means a vehicle, building, or other structure in which a person lives or that is customarily used for overnight accommodation of a person whether or not a person is actually present;
(18)
"Service" includes:
(A)
Labor;
(B)
Professional service;
(C)
Transportation;
(D)
Telephone, mail, or other public service;
(E)
Gas, electricity, or other public utility service;
(F)
Accommodation in a hotel, restaurant, or other public accommodation;
(G)
Admission to an exhibition; and
(H)
Use of a vehicle or other property;
(19)
(A)
"Threat" means a menace, however communicated, to:
(i)
Cause physical injury to any person or to commit any other criminal offense;
(ii)
Cause damage to any property;
(iii)
Accuse any person of a crime;
(iv)
Expose a secret or publish a fact tending to subject any person, living or deceased, to hatred, contempt, shame, or ridicule;
(v)
Impair any person's credit or business repute;
(vi)
Take or withhold action as a public servant or cause a public servant to take or withhold action;
(vii)
Testify or provide information or withhold testimony or information with respect to a legal claim or defense of another person;
(viii)
Bring about or continue a strike, boycott, or other collective action if a property or service is not demanded or received for the benefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act; or
(ix)
Do any other act which would not in itself substantially benefit the actor or a group he or she purports to represent but which is calculated to harm another person in a substantial manner with respect to his or her health, safety, business, employment, calling, career, financial condition, reputation, or a personal relationship.
(B)
"Threat" does not include an expression of intent to accuse, expose, bring suit, or otherwise invoke official action under subdivisions (19)(A)(iii)-(vi) of this section if made to obtain property claimed as restitution or indemnification for harm done in the circumstances to which accusation, exposure, lawsuit, or other official action relates or as compensation for property or a lawful service;
(20)
"Trade secret" means the whole or any portion of any valuable scientific or technical information, design, process, procedure, formula, or improvement that is not accessible to a person other than a person selected by the owner to have access for a limited purpose;
(21)
"Utility" means a person or entity providing to the public gas, electricity, water, sewer, telephone, telegraph, radio, radio common carrier, railway, railroad, cable and broadcast television, video, or internet services;
(22)
"Utility property" means any component that is reasonably necessary to provide utility services, including without limitation any wire, pole, facility, machinery, tool, equipment, cable, insulator, switch, signal, duct, fiber optic cable, conduit, plant, work, system, backup deep cycle battery or other power supply, substation, transmission or distribution structure, line, street lighting fixture, generating plant, equipment, pipe, main, transformer, underground line, gas compressor, meter, or any other building or structure or part of a building or structure that a utility uses in the production or use of its services;
(23)
(A)
"Value" means:
(i)
The market value of a property or service at the time and place of the offense, or if the market value of the property cannot be ascertained, the cost of replacing the property within a reasonable time after the offense;
(ii)
In the case of a written instrument, other than a written instrument having a readily ascertainable market value, the amount due and collectible at maturity less any part that has been satisfied if the written instrument constitutes evidence of a debt, or the greatest amount of economic loss that the owner might reasonably suffer by virtue of the loss of the written instrument if the written instrument is other than evidence of a debt; or
(iii)
Any inherent, subjective, or idiosyncratic worth the owner or possessor of property attaches to the property even if the property has no market value or replacement cost.
(B)
(i)
If the actor gave consideration for or had a legal interest in the property or service, the amount of the consideration or the value of the interest shall be deducted from the value of the property or service to determine value.
(ii)
However, in a case of theft by receiving under §
5-36-106
, the consideration the actor gave for the property shall not be deducted to determine value; and
(24)
"Vehicle" means any craft or device designed for the transportation of a person or property across land or water or through the air.
Amended by Act 2021, No. 340,§ 1, eff. 3/15/2021.
Amended by Act 2019, No. 611,§ 1, eff. 7/24/2019.
Amended by Act 2015, No. 1263,§ 1, eff. 7/22/2015.
Acts 1975, No. 280, § 2201; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-2201; Acts 1987, No. 934, § 2; 1997, No. 829, § 1; 2001, No. 745, § 1.