§ 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 compen-
sation 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 unau-
thorized use of said computer or computer service shall be presumptive
evidence of an intent to avoid payment for the computer or computer
service.
(As amended L.2006 c.558 effective 11/01/06.)
12. With intent to avoid payment for services rendered by a barber-
shop, 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 para-
graphs (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.
