2023 New York Laws › PEN - Penal › Part 3 - Specific Offenses › Title J - Offenses Involving Theft › Article 165 - Other Offenses Relating to Theft › 165.15 - Theft of Services.

§ 165.15 Theft of services.
A person is guilty of theft of services when:
1.  He obtains or attempts to obtain a service, or induces or attempts
  to induce the supplier  of  a  rendered  service  to  agree  to  payment
  therefor  on  a  credit basis, by the use of a credit card or debit card
  which he knows to be stolen.
2. With intent to avoid payment for restaurant services  rendered,  or
  for  services  rendered  to  him as a transient guest at a hotel, motel,
  inn, tourist cabin, rooming house or comparable establishment, he avoids
  or attempts to avoid such payment by unjustifiable failure or refusal to
  pay, by stealth, or by any misrepresentation of fact which he  knows  to
  be  false.  A  person  who  fails or refuses to pay for such services is
  presumed to have intended to avoid payment therefor; or
3. With intent to obtain railroad, subway, bus, air, taxi or any other
  public transportation service  without  payment  of  the  lawful  charge
  therefor,   or   to   avoid  payment  of  the  lawful  charge  for  such
  transportation service which has been rendered to  him,  he  obtains  or
  attempts  to  obtain such service or avoids or attempts to avoid payment
  therefor  by  force,  intimidation,  stealth,  deception  or  mechanical
  tampering, or by unjustifiable failure or refusal to pay; or
4.  With  intent  to avoid payment by himself or another person of the
  lawful charge for any  telecommunications  service,  including,  without
  limitation,  cable  television service, or any gas, steam, sewer, water,
  electrical, telegraph or telephone  service  which  is  provided  for  a
  charge  or  compensation,  he obtains or attempts to obtain such service
  for himself or another person or avoids or  attempts  to  avoid  payment
  therefor  by  himself  or  another  person  by means of (a) tampering or
  making connection  with  the  equipment  of  the  supplier,  whether  by
  mechanical,  electrical,  acoustical or other means, or (b) offering for
  sale or otherwise making available, to anyone other than the provider of
  a telecommunications service for such service provider's own use in  the
  provision of its service, any telecommunications decoder or descrambler,
  a  principal  function of which defeats a mechanism of electronic signal
  encryption, jamming or individually addressed switching imposed  by  the
  provider of any such telecommunications service to restrict the delivery
  of  such service, or (c) any misrepresentation of fact which he knows to
  be false, or (d) any other artifice, trick, deception, code  or  device.
  For  the  purposes of this subdivision the telecommunications decoder or
  descrambler described in paragraph (b) above or the device described  in
  paragraph   (d)   above   shall   not   include   any  non-decoding  and
  non-descrambling channel frequency converter or any television  receiver
  type-accepted   by   the   federal  communications  commission.  In  any
  prosecution  under  this  subdivision,  proof  that   telecommunications
  equipment,   including,   without   limitation,   any  cable  television
  converter, descrambler, or related equipment, has been tampered with  or
  otherwise  intentionally  prevented  from  performing  its  functions of
  control of service delivery without the consent of the supplier  of  the
  service,   or  that  telecommunications  equipment,  including,  without
  limitation, any cable television converter,  descrambler,  receiver,  or
  related  equipment,  has been connected to the equipment of the supplier
  of the service without the consent of the supplier of the service, shall
  be presumptive evidence that the resident to whom the service  which  is
  at  the  time  being  furnished  by  or through such equipment has, with
  intent to avoid payment by himself or another person for  a  prospective
  or  already  rendered  service,  created  or  caused  to be created with
  reference to such equipment, the condition so  existing.  A  person  who
  tampers  with  such  a  device  or  equipment without the consent of the
  supplier of the service is presumed to do so with intent to avoid, or to

  enable another to avoid,  payment  for  the  service  involved.  In  any
  prosecution  under  this  subdivision, proof that any telecommunications
  decoder  or  descrambler,  a  principal  function  of  which  defeats  a
  mechanism  of  electronic  signal  encryption,  jamming  or individually
  addressed   switching   imposed   by   the   provider   of   any    such
  telecommunications service to restrict the delivery of such service, has
  been  offered  for sale or otherwise made available by anyone other than
  the supplier of such service shall  be  presumptive  evidence  that  the
  person offering such equipment for sale or otherwise making it available
  has,  with  intent  to avoid payment by himself or another person of the
  lawful charge for such service, obtained or  attempted  to  obtain  such
  service  for  himself or another person or avoided or attempted to avoid
  payment therefor by himself or another person; or
5. With intent to avoid payment by himself or another  person  of  the
  lawful  charge  for any telephone service which is provided for a charge
  or compensation he  (a)  sells,  offers  for  sale  or  otherwise  makes
  available,  without  consent,  an  existing,  canceled or revoked access
  device; or (b) uses, without consent, an existing, canceled  or  revoked
  access  device;  or (c) knowingly obtains any telecommunications service
  with fraudulent intent by use of an unauthorized, false,  or  fictitious
  name,  identification,  telephone number, or access device. For purposes
  of this subdivision access  device  means  any  telephone  calling  card
  number,  credit  card  number,  account  number,  mobile  identification
  number, electronic serial number or personal identification number  that
  can be used to obtain telephone service.
6.  With  intent  to  avoid payment by himself or another person for a
  prospective or already rendered service the charge or  compensation  for
  which is measured by a meter or other mechanical device, he tampers with
  such  device  or  with other equipment related thereto, or in any manner
  attempts to prevent the meter or device from  performing  its  measuring
  function,  without  the  consent  of the supplier of the service. In any
  prosecution under this  subdivision,  proof  that  a  meter  or  related
  equipment  has  been  tampered with or otherwise intentionally prevented
  from performing its  measuring  function  without  the  consent  of  the
  supplier of the service shall be presumptive evidence that the person to
  whom the service which is at the time being furnished by or through such
  meter  or related equipment has, with intent to avoid payment by himself
  or another person for a prospective or already rendered service, created
  or caused to  be  created  with  reference  to  such  meter  or  related
  equipment,  the  condition so existing. A person who tampers with such a
  device or equipment without the consent of the supplier of  the  service
  is  presumed  to  do  so  with  intent to avoid, or to enable another to
  avoid, payment for the service involved; or
7. He knowingly accepts or receives the use and  benefit  of  service,
  including gas, steam or electricity service, which should pass through a
  meter  but has been diverted therefrom, or which has been prevented from
  being correctly registered by a meter provided therefor,  or  which  has
  been  diverted  from  the  pipes,  wires  or  conductors of the supplier
  thereof. In any prosecution under this subdivision  proof  that  service
  has  been  intentionally  diverted  from passing through a meter, or has
  been intentionally prevented from being correctly registered by a  meter
  provided  therefor,  or  has been intentionally diverted from the pipes,
  wires or conductors  of  the  supplier  thereof,  shall  be  presumptive
  evidence  that the person who accepts or receives the use and benefit of
  such service has done so with knowledge of the condition so existing; or
8. With intent to obtain, without the consent of the supplier thereof,
  gas, electricity, water, steam or telephone service, he tampers with any

  equipment designed to supply or to prevent the supply  of  such  service
  either to the community in general or to particular premises; or
9.  With intent to avoid payment of the lawful charge for admission to
  any theatre or concert hall, or with intent  to  avoid  payment  of  the
  lawful charge for admission to or use of a chair lift, gondola, rope-tow
  or   similar   mechanical   device   utilized  in  assisting  skiers  in
  transportation to a point of ski arrival or  departure,  he  obtains  or
  attempts  to  obtain such admission without payment of the lawful charge
  therefor.
10. Obtaining or having control over labor in the  employ  of  another
  person, or of business, commercial or industrial equipment or facilities
  of  another  person, knowing that he is not entitled to the use thereof,
  and with intent to derive a commercial or other substantial benefit  for
  himself or a third person, he uses or diverts to the use of himself or a
  third person such labor, equipment or facilities.
11.  With  intent  to  avoid  payment  by himself, herself, or another
  person of the lawful charge for use of any computer,  computer  service,
  or computer network which is provided for a charge or compensation he or
  she  uses,  causes  to be used, accesses, or attempts to use or access a
  computer, computer service, or computer network and avoids  or  attempts
  to  avoid  payment  therefor.  In any prosecution under this subdivision
  proof that a person overcame or attempted  to  overcome  any  device  or
  coding  system a function of which is to prevent the unauthorized use of
  said computer or computer service shall be presumptive  evidence  of  an
  intent to avoid payment for the computer or computer service.
12.   With  intent  to  avoid  payment  for  services  rendered  by  a
  barbershop, salon or beauty shop, he or she avoids or attempts to  avoid
  such  payment by unjustifiable failure or refusal to pay, by stealth, or
  by any misrepresentation of fact which he or she knows to be false.
Theft of services is a class A misdemeanor,  provided,  however,  that
  theft  of  cable  television  service  as  defined  by the provisions of
  paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) of subdivision four  of  this  section,  and
  having  a value not in excess of one hundred dollars by a person who has
  not been previously convicted of theft  of  services  under  subdivision
  four  of  this  section  is  a  violation,  that theft of services under
  subdivision nine of this section by a person who has not been previously
  convicted of theft of services under subdivision nine of this section is
  a violation, that theft of services under  subdivision  twelve  of  this
  section  by  a  person who has not previously been convicted of theft of
  services under subdivision twelve of this section is  a  violation,  and
  provided  further,  however,  that  theft  of  services of any telephone
  service under paragraph (a) or (b) of subdivision five of  this  section
  having  a value in excess of one thousand dollars or by a person who has
  been previously convicted within five years of theft of  services  under
  paragraph (a) of subdivision five of this section is a class E felony.