Larceny and robbery in Charlotte, North Carolina

If you are charged with Petit Larceny, Grand Larceny, or Robbery in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, you have options. A Criminal Defense Lawyer knows that there are several defenses available to you. We understand that every case is different, and every fact should be analyzed in order to represent you in the capacity that you deserve.

The majority of the time, individuals are taped on a video camera or followed throughout a retail establishment by store security. Unfortunately, once a person is placed into custody, they are nearly forced into signing a document by store security that admits guilt, or interrogated until they are forced to admit guilt. This admission of guilt may then be used against you in a criminal proceeding.

A Criminal Lawyer can assist you by reviewing any evidence that may be used against you in discovery. By thoroughly reviewing all the evidence a Lawyer will be able to represent you in trial and possibly negate the admissibility of evidence that the prosecution may try to use against you.

Whether your charge is considered a Misdemeanor or a Felony, will depend on the value of the goods stolen, but remember Larceny and Robbery is considered a “Crime of Moral Turpitude” and can stigmatize anyone’s record. Once a crime of moral turpitude is placed on your record it may scar you for life by affecting your ability to obtain specific employment, governmental clearance, and even your ability to partake in social clubs and functions. It is imperative if you are charged with Larceny or Robbery in North Carolina, that you retain a Criminal Defense Lawyer. Sheehan and speak with a Criminal Lawyer today.

What this covers

• What’s Petit Larceny? What’s Grand Larceny?
• What if I Only Have Stolen Property in My Possession?

North Carolina draws the line between misdemeanor and felony larceny at $1,000

In North Carolina the value of the property taken decides the grade of a larceny charge. G.S. 14-72(a) provides that “Larceny of goods of the value of more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) is a Class H felony,” that “The receiving or possessing of stolen goods of the value of more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) while knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that the goods are stolen is a Class H felony,” and that larceny, or the receiving or possession of stolen goods, “where the value of the property or goods is not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), is a Class 1 misdemeanor.” The same subsection ends with a direction to the fact-finder: “In all cases of doubt, the jury shall, in the verdict, fix the value of the property stolen.”

That one figure carries most of the weight in a Charlotte theft case. A Class H felony is answered in Mecklenburg County Superior Court, ordinarily on a bill of indictment returned by the grand jury. A Class 1 misdemeanor begins in District Court, which under G.S. 7A-272(a) has “exclusive, original jurisdiction for the trial of criminal actions, including municipal ordinance violations, below the grade of felony.” Value is therefore contested far more often than the taking itself.

North Carolina appellate decisions measure value for this purpose as the fair market value of the property at the time and place of the taking. That is not the same number as the retail sticker price, the replacement cost, the insured value, or the figure a store’s loss-prevention report happens to record. Because G.S. 14-72(a) sends genuine doubt about value to the jury, valuation is something a defense can put in issue rather than something the State settles by assertion.

Six categories make larceny a felony whatever the property was worth

G.S. 14-72(b) takes value out of the calculation altogether. It provides that “The crime of larceny is a felony, without regard to the value of the property in question,” in six listed situations, and G.S. 14-72(a) then supplies the class in terms: “Larceny as provided in subsection (b) of this section is a Class H felony.” The general default in G.S. 14-70 points the same way, since that section provides that “unless otherwise provided by statute, larceny is a Class H felony.” A larceny inside any of these categories is a Class H felony even where the item taken was worth a few dollars.

• Larceny “from the person” — G.S. 14-72(b)(1)
• Larceny “committed pursuant to a violation of G.S. 14-51, 14-53, 14-54, 14-54.1, or 14-57” — the burglary and breaking-or-entering sections
• Larceny “of any explosive or incendiary device or substance,” a phrase the subsection defines and expressly does not extend to fireworks or to ordinary fuels serving a legitimate use in the quantity stolen
• Larceny “of any firearm,” a term the subsection defines to include a firearm not capable of being fired at the time of the theft if it can be made to work, and to exclude air rifles and air pistols
• Larceny “of any record or paper in the custody of the North Carolina State Archives as defined by G.S. 121-2(7) and G.S. 121-2(8)”
• Larceny committed after at least four prior convictions for larceny offenses, in this State or another jurisdiction, misdemeanors and felonies alike — but G.S. 14-72(b)(6) counts a prior conviction only where “the defendant was represented by counsel or waived counsel at first appearance or otherwise prior to trial or plea,” and counts multiple misdemeanor larceny convictions entered “in a single session of district court, or in a single week of superior court or of a court in another jurisdiction” as one, except where the offenses occurred in separate counties

Stolen goods carry the same felony rule as the larceny that produced them

G.S. 14-72(c) extends the value-free rule to stolen goods. Possessing or receiving goods, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe them to be stolen, “in the circumstances described in subsection (b)” is a felony “without regard to the value of the property in question,” and G.S. 14-72(a) grades that as a Class H felony. A person who never took anything can therefore face a felony because of how the goods came to be stolen in the first place — a fact the possessor may know nothing about.

Separate statutes remove value from other larcenies entirely. G.S. 14-81 makes larceny of horses, mules, swine or cattle a Class H felony and larceny of a dog a Class I felony, with no value threshold written into the section at all. That section also requires, as a minimum punishment, that the person be placed on probation on conditions that include restitution for the damage or loss caused by the larceny and a fine of not less than that amount, while preserving the judge’s authority to impose a more severe sentence. The common assumption that animals are simply chattels valued like any other property is wrong in North Carolina.

Robbery is larceny plus force, and North Carolina grades it two ways

In North Carolina, robbery is not defined by a statute that lists its elements. G.S. 14-87.1 says only that “Robbery as defined at common law, other than robbery with a firearm or other dangerous weapon as defined by G.S. 14-87, shall be punishable as a Class G felony.” The elements remain the common law ones: a taking of personal property from the person or presence of another, without consent, accomplished by violence or by putting that person in fear, with the intent to deprive permanently.

G.S. 14-87 covers the armed version. It reaches any person who, “having in possession or with the use or threatened use of any firearms or other dangerous weapon, implement or means, whereby the life of a person is endangered or threatened,” unlawfully takes or attempts to take personal property from another, or from any place of business, residence or banking institution, or any place where persons are. That offense is a Class D felony, and aiding and abetting is written into the section rather than left outside it.

The step from Class G to Class D is the largest single grading change in this part of North Carolina criminal law. G.S. 14-87(a1) closes one route out of it, providing that “Attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon shall constitute a lesser included offense of robbery with a dangerous weapon” — so the attempt is not dropped a class in the way G.S. 14-2.5 would otherwise require.

Retail theft statutes are charged alongside larceny, not instead of it

North Carolina has a separate offense for concealment. G.S. 14-72.1(a) reaches “Whoever, without authority, willfully conceals the goods or merchandise of any store, not theretofore purchased by such person, while still upon the premises of such store,” and provides that merchandise found concealed on a person and not previously purchased is prima facie evidence of a wilful concealment. G.S. 14-72.1(d) covers the related conduct of transferring a price tag to higher-priced goods, or substituting a false price tag, and then presenting the goods for purchase. The punishment ladder for both sits in G.S. 14-72.1(e): a first conviction is a Class 3 misdemeanor, a second offense committed within three years of a conviction under the section is a Class 2 misdemeanor, and a third or subsequent offense committed within five years of two other convictions under the section is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

G.S. 14-72.11 creates a Class H felony called larceny from a merchant. It applies without regard to the general $1,000 line where the taking involves property worth more than $200 removed through an exit door erected and maintained to comply with the federal emergency-exit requirements, the removal, destruction or deactivation of “a component of an antishoplifting or inventory control device,” a product code affixed for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining goods at less than the actual sale price, infant formula “valued in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00),” or the exchange of property known or reasonably believed to be stolen for cash, a gift card or other value. G.S. 14-72.1(d1) separately makes it a Class H felony to violate G.S. 14-72.1(a) by using “a lead-lined or aluminum-lined bag, a lead-lined or aluminum-lined article of clothing, or a similar device to prevent the activation of any antishoplifting or inventory control device.”

G.S. 14-86.6 adds organized retail theft, and its subsections require more than a bare agreement. Subsection (a)(1) reaches a person who conspires with another to commit theft of retail property from retail establishments with the intent to sell it “for monetary or other gain,” and who “takes or causes that retail property to be placed in the control of a retail property fence or other person in exchange for consideration.” Subsection (a)(2) reaches receiving or possessing retail property stolen in violation of (a)(1) while knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe it is stolen. Subsection (a)(3) reaches conspiring “with two or more other persons as an organizer, supervisor, financier, leader, or manager” in a scheme to transfer or sell property stolen from a merchant. Grading turns on value “aggregated over a 90-day period”: exceeding $1,500 is a Class H felony, exceeding $20,000 a Class G felony, exceeding $50,000 a Class F felony, and exceeding $100,000 a Class C felony.

How the offense class translates into a sentence

North Carolina sentences these offenses under structured sentencing. G.S. 15A-1340.13 requires the court to determine the prior record level and to impose a sentence containing a disposition specified for that combination of offense class and record level, together with a minimum term and the maximum term the statute pairs with it. The felony chart in G.S. 15A-1340.17 fixes the permissible minimum durations for each class and record level and converts each minimum into its corresponding maximum; the misdemeanor chart in G.S. 15A-1340.23 does the same work in days.

For misdemeanor larceny, the Class 1 row of the chart in G.S. 15A-1340.23 runs from one to forty-five days at prior conviction Level I, with community punishment the only authorized disposition at that level, and rises to a ceiling of one hundred and twenty days at Level III. Concealment is not sentenced on the same footing. G.S. 15A-1340.23 provides that, unless otherwise provided for a specific offense, the judgment for a person convicted of a Class 3 misdemeanor with no more than three prior convictions consists only of a fine, and it caps a Class 3 fine at two hundred dollars ($200.00); G.S. 14-72.1 fixes the class rather than displacing that rule, so a qualifying first offender ordinarily receives a fine-only judgment. Under G.S. 14-72.1(e), where a term of imprisonment is imposed for a first concealment offense it “may be suspended only on condition that the defendant perform community service for a term of at least 24 hours,” with heavier conditions written in for second and third offenses, and G.S. 14-72.1(g) then restricts credit for pre-trial incarceration, good or gain time and early release on any active term imposed under the section.

Prior convictions can also change the class rather than merely the range. G.S. 14-7.1 declares a person who has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to three felony offenses a habitual felon, but only where the second offense was committed after conviction or plea for the first and the third after conviction or plea for the second. Where a defendant is indicted and convicted as a habitual felon, G.S. 14-7.6 requires sentencing “at a felony class level that is four classes higher than the principal felony for which the person was convicted,” and provides that “under no circumstances shall an habitual felon be sentenced at a level higher than a Class C felony.”

A civil demand letter from a retailer is not the criminal case

In North Carolina a shop or an employer can sue separately under G.S. 1-538.2, which creates civil liability for acts punishable under G.S. 14-72, 14-72.1, 14-72.11, 14-74, 14-86.6, 14-86.7, 14-90 or 14-100. In such a civil action the owner is entitled to recover the value of goods or merchandise destroyed, or the loss in value of goods recovered, money lost, damage to real or personal property caused in the course of the offense, consequential and punitive damages, and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

The statute puts a floor and a ceiling on consequential damages: they “shall not be less than one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) and shall not exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000),” except that conduct falling under G.S. 14-74, 14-86.6, 14-86.7 or 14-90 has no maximum limit. G.S. 1-538.2 also reaches the parent or guardian of an unemancipated minor who “knew or should have known of the propensity of the child to commit such an act” and who “had the opportunity and ability to control the child, and made no reasonable effort to correct or restrain the child,” with the same consequential damages limits and without punitive damages.

Paying or refusing to pay a civil demand does not resolve, dismiss or aggravate the criminal charge. The two proceedings run on separate tracks and are decided in different courts, and a letter from a retailer’s solicitors is not an instrument the criminal court administers.

Deferred prosecution and conditional discharge are limited by offense class

North Carolina has two statutory routes that can end a theft case without a conviction entered on the record, and both begin with a restriction on class. G.S. 15A-1341(a1) opens with the words “A person who has been charged with a Class H or I felony or a misdemeanor,” so statutory deferred prosecution cannot reach a Class G or Class D charge — which excludes common law robbery under G.S. 14-87.1 and robbery with a dangerous weapon under G.S. 14-87 from the section altogether. Within that class range, such a person may be placed on probation on motion of the defendant and the prosecutor where the court finds that prosecution has been deferred by the prosecutor by written agreement with the defendant approved by the court, that each known victim has been notified and given an opportunity to be heard, that “the defendant has not been convicted of any felony or of any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude,” that the defendant has not previously been placed on probation and so states under oath, and that “the defendant is unlikely to commit another offense other than a Class 3 misdemeanor.”

The moral turpitude condition is why that phrase matters so much in larceny cases. Theft offenses are generally treated as crimes of moral turpitude, so an earlier larceny conviction can remove the statutory eligibility that would otherwise exist on a later charge.

The same class restriction runs through G.S. 15A-1341(a4). Where a person pleads guilty to or is found guilty of a Class H or I felony or a misdemeanor, the court may, on the joint motion of the defendant and the prosecutor and on findings of the same kind, place that person on probation “without entering a judgment of guilt.” Where the conditions of probation are fulfilled, the statute directs that any plea or finding of guilty previously entered be withdrawn and that the court discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings; where they are violated, the court may enter an adjudication of guilt and proceed as otherwise provided. Both routes are permissive throughout: the statute requires the prosecutor’s agreement and leaves the decision with the court, and neither is available on demand.

Whether the record can later be cleared depends on the class and the disposition

In North Carolina, G.S. 15A-146 governs charges that end without a conviction. Under G.S. 15A-146(a4) the charges in a case “are expunged by operation of law” where all charges in the case are disposed of on or after 1 December 2021 and all of them are “dismissed without leave, dismissed by the court, or result in a finding of not guilty or not responsible.” No petition is required for that route. The subsection carves out one situation expressly: “no case with a felony charge that was dismissed pursuant to a plea agreement will be expunged pursuant to this subsection.” Other dispositions are addressed by the petition provisions elsewhere in the same section.

Convictions are harder. G.S. 15A-145.5 allows a petition to expunge a “nonviolent felony,” but the definition in subsection (a) excludes Class A through G felonies, offenses that include assault as an essential element, and offenses under G.S. 14-54(a) or (a1), among others. Common law robbery is a Class G felony and robbery with a dangerous weapon is a Class D felony, so neither falls inside the definition. Class H felony larceny can fall inside it, subject to the section’s other requirements and to a waiting period the statute measures in years running from the date of conviction or from the completion of any active sentence, probation or post-release supervision, whichever is later.

Theft offenses that are charged in place of, or alongside, larceny

North Carolina prosecutors have several sections that overlap with larceny, and which one is charged changes the class and the defense. G.S. 14-100 covers obtaining property by false pretenses — using “any kind of false pretense whatsoever” with “intent to cheat or defraud” — and is a Class C felony where the value is $100,000 or more and a Class H felony below that. The section expressly provides that “evidence of nonfulfillment of a contract obligation standing alone shall not establish the essential element of intent to defraud.”

G.S. 14-90 covers embezzlement of property received by virtue of office, employment or a fiduciary position, and G.S. 14-74 covers larceny by servants and other employees, a section that by its own terms does not apply to apprentices or servants under the age of 16. Both are Class C felonies where the value is $100,000 or more and Class H felonies below that. G.S. 14-72.2 makes the unauthorized use of a motor-propelled conveyance a Class 1 misdemeanor, and unauthorized use of an aircraft a Class H felony — a section that matters because it turns on taking or operating without the express or implied consent of the owner or person in lawful possession, and does not require the intent to deprive permanently that larceny does.

Inchoate liability is graded by two general sections. G.S. 14-2.5 provides that “unless a different classification is expressly stated, an attempt to commit a misdemeanor or a felony is punishable under the next lower classification as the offense which the offender attempted to commit,” with an attempt at a Class I felony being a Class 1 misdemeanor. G.S. 14-2.4 grades conspiracy one class below the offense conspired at, again unless a different classification is expressly stated. That qualification is why G.S. 14-87(a1) governs attempted armed robbery instead.

Where a Charlotte larceny or robbery case is heard

In Mecklenburg County, misdemeanor larceny and concealment charges are calendared in District Court at the courthouse on East Fourth Street in Charlotte, under the jurisdiction conferred by G.S. 7A-272(a). A person convicted of a misdemeanor before a district court judge may appeal to Superior Court for “trial de novo with a jury” under G.S. 15A-1431(b), and G.S. 15A-1431(c) allows that notice of appeal to be given “within 10 days of entry of judgment” orally in open court or in writing to the clerk.

Felony larceny, felony possession of stolen goods and both robbery offenses are Superior Court matters, ordinarily reached by indictment through the Mecklenburg County grand jury. G.S. 7A-272(c) creates a narrow exception allowing a district court to accept a plea of guilty or no contest to a Class H or I felony where the presiding district court judge, the prosecutor and the defendant all consent, and where the case was charged by information under G.S. 15A-644.1 and remains in district court, or was transferred back from Superior Court under G.S. 15A-1029.1. Neither robbery offense is within that provision.

Common questions

Questions people ask

• Is Shoplifting Larceny?Shoplifting is one of the most common types of Larceny that occurs in the North Carolina Judicial system. The majority…
• What Defines Larceny?At common law, Larceny was defined as the trespassory taking and carrying away of the tangible personal property of…
• What Defines Robbery?Under Common Law, robbery is defined with the same elements as larceny but coupled with assault and battery;…
• What if I Only Have Stolen Property in My Possession?Yes, you can be charged with Larceny or a related Theft Crime in the event that you have stolen property in your…
• What’s Petit Larceny? What’s Grand Larceny?In North Carolina, larceny is divided into two categories, which are defined by the value of the items that were…

Written for North Carolina law and reviewed by David P. Sheehan, attorney, Charlotte. General information, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.