§ 155.05 Larceny; defined.
1. A person steals property and commits larceny when, with
intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same
to himself or to a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or
withholds such property from an owner thereof.
2. Larceny includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or
withholding of another's property, with the intent prescribed in
subdivision one of this section, committed in any of the
following ways:
(a) By conduct heretofore defined or known as common law
larceny by trespassory taking, common law larceny by trick,
embezzlement, or obtaining property by false pretenses;
(b) By acquiring lost property.
A person acquires lost property when he exercises control
over property of another which he knows to have been lost or
mislaid, or to have been delivered under a mistake as to the
identity of the recipient or the nature or amount of the
property, without taking reasonable measures to return such
property to the owner;
(c) By committing the crime of issuing a bad check, as
defined in section 190.05;
(d) By false promise.
A person obtains property by false promise when, pursuant to
a scheme to defraud, he obtains property of another by means of a
representation, express or implied, that he or a third person
will in the future engage in particular conduct, and when he does
not intend to engage in such conduct or, as the case may be, does
not believe that the third person intends to engage in such
conduct.
In any prosecution for larceny based upon a false promise,
the defendant's intention or belief that the promise would not be
performed may not be established by or inferred from the fact
alone that such promise was not performed. Such a finding may be
based only upon evidence establishing that the facts and
circumstances of the case are wholly consistent with guilty
intent or belief and wholly inconsistent with innocent intent or
belief, and excluding to a moral certainty every hypothesis
except that of the defendant's intention or belief that the
promise would not be performed;
(e) By extortion.
A person obtains property by extortion when he compels or
induces another person to deliver such property to himself or to
a third person by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the
property is not so delivered, the actor or another will:
(i) Cause physical injury to some person in the future; or
(ii) Cause damage to property; or
(iii) Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or
(iv) Accuse some person of a crime or cause criminal charges or
removal proceedings to be instituted against him or her; or
(v) Expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether
true or false, tending to subject some person to hatred, contempt
or ridicule; or
(vi) Cause a strike, boycott or other collective labor group
action injurious to some person's business; except that such a
threat shall not be deemed extortion when the property is
demanded or received for the benefit of the group in whose
interest the actor purports to act; or
(vii) Testify or provide information or withhold testimony
or information with respect to another's legal claim or defense;
or
(viii) Use or abuse his position as a public servant by
performing some act within or related to his official duties, or
by failing or refusing to perform an official duty, in such
manner as to affect some person adversely; or
(ix) Perform any other act which would not in itself
materially benefit the actor but which is calculated to harm
another person materially with respect to his health, safety,
business, calling, career, financial condition, reputation or
personal relationships.
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