(A) It is unlawful for:

(1) the manager or owner of a warehouse or an agent or employee to issue or aid in issuing a receipt for a commodity, knowing that the commodity has not been actually placed in the warehouse under the control of the manager or owner of the commodity;

(2) a person to induce a warehouseman to issue a receipt for a commodity, knowing that the commodity has not been actually placed in the warehouse under the control of the manager or owner of the commodity;

(3) a person to knowingly issue a warehouse receipt in a name other than that of the lawful owner of the commodity, or his designee, for which the receipt is given;

(4) a person to knowingly deliver an agricultural commodity to a warehouse or dealer on which a lien is outstanding without giving written notice to the warehouseman or dealer of the lien;

(5) a person to induce a warehouseman to deliver a commodity without first obtaining warehouse receipts issued for it;

(6) a manager, owner, or employee of a warehouse to knowingly deliver a commodity without first obtaining warehouse receipts issued for it;

(7) a warehouse auditor who, upon the auditing of a warehouse in the state warehouse system, finds items (2) and (5) of this section to have been violated to fail to report the violation on his regular report of the inspection, regardless of whether or not the violation is corrected before the report is filed;

(8) a person to issue or aid in issuing a duplicate or additional receipt for cotton or other commodity, knowing that the former receipt or any part of it is outstanding unless a receipt has become lost or destroyed and the goods are delivered or a duplicate receipt is issued in accordance with the provisions of law covering those cases.

(9) a warehouseman to issue an electronic warehouse receipt without providing written notice to the depositor of such issuance, or for a warehouseman to transfer any such electronic warehouse receipt without the depositor having consented thereto in writing on a form provided by the commissioner.

(B) A person who violates the provisions of item (1), (2), (3), (4), or (9) of subsection (A) of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Each transfer of an electronic warehouse receipt in violation of item (9) is a separate offense.

A person who violates the provisions of item (5) or (6) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

A person who violates the provisions of item (7) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, for each violation.

A person who violates the provisions of item (8) of this section is guilty of forgery and, upon conviction, must receive the penalty provided for a conviction of that crime.

HISTORY: 1990 Act No. 436, Section 1, eff April 24, 1990; 1993 Act No. 184, Section 67, eff January 1, 1994; 1998 Act No. 375, Sections 3, 4, eff May 26, 1998.

Effect of Amendment

The 1993 amendment rewrote subsection (B) so as to change portions from misdemeanors to felonies and the maximum term of imprisonment to conform to the new crime classification system.

The 1998 amendment, in subsection (A), added item (9) requiring written notice to depositors for electronic warehouse receipts; and in the first paragraph of subsection (B), inserted a reference to item (9) of subsection (A) and added the last sentence providing that each violation of item (9) is a separate offense.