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 claimed to be stolen. In North Carolina Petit Larceny is a misdemeanor, which occurs when the amount of the item(s) stolen has a value of under,000. In North Carolina-Grand Larceny is a felony, which occurs when the amount of item(s) stolen has a value of greater than,000. Additionally, under North Carolina Larceny Law, animals are considered chattel and can be the subject of a Petit larceny and even a Grand Larceny if the value of the animal is over,000.

North Carolina abolished the distinction between petit and grand larceny

The terms petit larceny and grand larceny are still in common use in North Carolina, but they are no longer terms of art in the General Statutes. G.S. 14-70 is headed “Distinctions between grand and petit larceny abolished; punishment; accessories to larceny,” and its first sentence reads: “All distinctions between petit and grand larceny are abolished.”

What replaced them is a division between misdemeanor larceny and felony larceny. The same section supplies the default: “Unless otherwise provided by statute, larceny is a Class H felony and is subject to the same rules of criminal procedure and principles of law as to accessories before and after the fact as other felonies.”

So a charge in Mecklenburg County will not be captioned petit or grand larceny. It will be captioned misdemeanor larceny or felony larceny, and the section cited will be G.S. 14-72 or one of the specific larceny statutes.

The dividing line is one thousand dollars

G.S. 14-72(a) sets the threshold in North Carolina. “Larceny of goods of the value of more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) is a Class H felony,” and larceny “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 applies the identical figure to receiving and to possessing stolen goods.

The wording matters. Property worth exactly one thousand dollars is not more than one thousand dollars, so it falls on the misdemeanor side. Everything therefore rests on the valuation exercise rather than on any rounded description of what was taken, and the subsection ends by directing that “in all cases of doubt, the jury shall, in the verdict, fix the value of the property stolen.”

Value means fair market value at the time and place of the taking

North Carolina appellate decisions measure the value of stolen property as its fair market value at the time and place of the taking. That is a different figure from the original purchase price, from replacement cost, from insured value and from the retail price recorded on a loss-prevention report.

Depreciation, condition, damage and the ordinary discount between shelf price and resale value all bear on it. Where the item is second-hand, custom or obsolete, the gap between the figure in the report and the fair market value can be substantial, and where the alleged value sits close to the threshold that gap decides the class of the offense.

Where several items are taken in one continuous transaction, North Carolina treats the episode as a single larceny and adds the values together. That rule can lift a group of low-value items over the threshold, and it also prevents a single episode being charged as a series of separate larcenies.

Six situations make larceny a felony no matter what the property was worth

G.S. 14-72(b) states that “the crime of larceny is a felony, without regard to the value of the property in question,” where the larceny falls into one of six categories, and G.S. 14-72(a) then supplies the class: “Larceny as provided in subsection (b) of this section is a Class H felony.” Those larcenies are Class H felonies even where the item taken was worth very little.

• Larceny “from the person”
• 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,” as defined in the subsection
• Larceny “of any firearm,” as defined in the subsection
• Larceny “of any record or paper in the custody of the North Carolina State Archives”
• Larceny committed after at least four prior convictions for larceny offenses, in this State or another jurisdiction, counted subject to the limits G.S. 14-72(b)(6) places on which convictions may be used

The four-prior-conviction category is not a simple headcount

The sixth category is the one most often stated too broadly. G.S. 14-72(b)(6) reaches larceny committed after the defendant has been convicted, in this State or another jurisdiction, of larceny offenses or substantially similar offenses at least four times, and it does not matter whether those convictions were misdemeanors, felonies or a combination. But the same subdivision then restricts the count in two ways.

First, a conviction is not included in the four “unless the defendant was represented by counsel or waived counsel at first appearance or otherwise prior to trial or plea.” Second, where a person is convicted of more than one misdemeanor larceny “in a single session of district court, or in a single week of superior court or of a court in another jurisdiction, only one of the convictions may be used as a prior conviction under this subdivision,” except that convictions based on offenses occurring in separate counties each count separately.

The consequence is practical. A record that shows four or more larceny entries may still not support a felony charge under this subdivision once the session, the county and the representation on each earlier case are checked against the statute.

Animals are not simply chattels measured against the threshold

In North Carolina, G.S. 14-81 is headed “Larceny of horses, mules, swine, cattle, or dogs” and takes those animals outside the general value test. Larceny of a horse, mule, swine or cattle is a Class H felony, and larceny of a dog is a Class I felony, with no value threshold written into the section.

The section also fixes a minimum punishment, requiring that the person be placed on probation on conditions that include restitution for the damage or loss caused by the larceny of the livestock or dogs and a fine of not less than the amount of that damage or loss, while leaving the judge’s authority to impose a more severe sentence intact. The result is that the theft of an animal covered by G.S. 14-81 is a felony in North Carolina regardless of whether the animal would have been valued above or below one thousand dollars.

Aggregation over time appears elsewhere too. G.S. 14-86.6 grades organized retail theft by the value of retail property “aggregated over a 90-day period,” beginning at a Class H felony above $1,500 and rising through Class G above $20,000, Class F above $50,000 and Class C above $100,000 — though each limb of that offense carries elements well beyond a simple taking, including, for the first limb, placing the property in the control of a retail property fence or other person in exchange for consideration.

What each class carries at sentencing in North Carolina

Misdemeanor larceny is a Class 1 misdemeanor, sentenced under G.S. 15A-1340.23. At prior conviction Level I the range is one to forty-five days, with community punishment the authorized disposition; the ceiling rises with prior convictions to one hundred and twenty days at Level III. The statute sets the limits, and the disposition available depends on the level as well as the class.

Felony larceny is a Class H felony, sentenced under the chart in G.S. 15A-1340.17. G.S. 15A-1340.13 requires the court to determine the prior record level first and then to impose a sentence containing a disposition specified for that combination of class and level, with a minimum term drawn from the applicable cell and the maximum term the statute pairs with it.

Prior convictions can change the class rather than the range. G.S. 14-72(b)(6) converts larceny into a felony without regard to value after four or more qualifying prior larceny convictions, counted subject to the counsel and single-session limits written into that subdivision. Separately, under G.S. 14-7.1 a person convicted of or pleading guilty to three felony offenses is declared a habitual felon — but only where the second was committed after conviction or plea for the first and the third after conviction or plea for the second — and G.S. 14-7.6 then requires sentencing “at a felony class level that is four classes higher than the principal felony for which the person was convicted,” capped at Class C.

Which court hears the case, and what happens after a conviction

In North Carolina the class decides the courtroom. Misdemeanor larceny is heard in Mecklenburg County District Court under G.S. 7A-272(a), which confers “exclusive, original jurisdiction for the trial of criminal actions, including municipal ordinance violations, below the grade of felony.” A defendant convicted before a district court judge may appeal for “trial de novo with a jury” in Superior Court under G.S. 15A-1431(b), on notice given “within 10 days of entry of judgment” orally in open court or in writing to the clerk.

Felony larceny is a Superior Court matter, ordinarily reached by indictment. G.S. 7A-272(c) allows a district court to accept a plea of guilty or no contest to a Class H or I felony where the presiding judge, the prosecutor and the defendant consent and the case was charged by information and remains in district court, or was transferred back from Superior Court.

The class also governs what can happen to the record afterwards. G.S. 15A-1341(a1) allows deferred prosecution only for a person charged with a Class H or I felony or a misdemeanor, and G.S. 15A-1341(a4) allows a conditional discharge only where a person pleads guilty to or is found guilty of an offense in that same range; both misdemeanor and Class H felony larceny fall inside those limits, but each route requires the prosecutor’s participation and the findings the section specifies. G.S. 15A-145.5 allows a petition to expunge a nonviolent felony, a definition that excludes Class A through G felonies but can include a Class H felony larceny, subject to the section’s other requirements and to the waiting period it measures from conviction or from completion of any active sentence, probation or post-release supervision.

Common questions

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

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