A. It shall be a felony for any warehouseman, employee, or manager of a public warehouse to knowingly:

1. Issue or receive a fraudulent warehouse receipt regarding, but not limited to, commodities that are not actually stored at the time of issuing the receipt, issuing any warehouse receipt or scale ticket that is in any respect fraudulent in its character, either as to its date or to the quantity, quality, or inspected grade of the commodities, or who shall remove any commodities from store, except to preserve the commodities from fire or other damage without the return and cancellation of all outstanding receipts that may have been issued to represent the commodities; or

2. Issue a delayed pricing contract, deferred payment contract, or any other records for sales of commodities in a fraudulent manner without the full knowledge and consent of the producer.

A violation of this section shall, upon conviction, be punishable by a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for not more than ten (10) years or by both such fine and imprisonment.

B. The State Board of Agriculture, upon application from the warehouseman, may approve the prepositioning of commodity stocks in state-chartered or federally licensed terminal warehouses in order to free storage space for new harvest commodities. The period for such action shall not exceed sixty (60) days prior to anticipated beginning of harvest for the commodity nor can they be out of position more than one hundred eighty (180) days. The Board may extend the time period an additional one hundred eighty (180) days as specified by rules promulgated by the Board.

Added by Laws 1955, p. 82, art. 9(B), § 14, emerg. eff. June 3, 1955. Amended by Laws 1977, c. 106, § 6, emerg. eff. May 27, 1977; Laws 1987, c. 125, § 10, emerg. eff. June 2, 1987; Laws 1997, c. 133, § 93, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 1999, c. 157, § 6, eff. Nov. 1, 1999; Laws 2000, c. 243, § 93, emerg. eff. May 24, 2000; Laws 2001, c. 119, § 5, eff. Nov. 1, 2001.

NOTE: Laws 1998, 1st Ex.Sess., c. 2, § 23 amended the effective date of Laws 1997, c. 133, § 93 from July 1, 1998, to July 1, 1999.

NOTE: Laws 1997, c. 10, § 12 repealed by Laws 1999, c. 157, § 7, eff. Nov. 1, 1999.