Serving Jersey City, Hudson County & all of New Jersey · Free Consultations · Se Habla Español
Serving Jersey City, Hudson County & all of New Jersey · Free Consultations · Se Habla Español
Receiving stolen property in Jersey City is charged under N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7: knowingly receiving or bringing into the state property of another knowing it has been stolen, or believing it probably was. It is graded by value like all theft offenses — under $200 is a disorderly persons offense at Jersey City Municipal Court, $500 or more is third degree at Hudson County Superior Court. Knowledge is the contested element, and the statute lists specific circumstances that create a presumption of it.
2C:20-7 makes it a crime to knowingly receive or bring into New Jersey movable property of another knowing that it has been stolen, or believing that it is probably stolen. ‘Receiving’ means acquiring possession, control or title, or lending on the security of the property. The grading follows the general theft scale in 2C:20-2, so value determines whether the case is a disorderly persons offense at 365 Summit Avenue or a third- or second-degree crime at the Brennan Courthouse.
Knowledge is almost never proved by direct evidence, so the statute supplies presumptions. A person who is found in possession of two or more items stolen on two or more occasions, who has received stolen property in the past year, who is a dealer and acquired the property well below its reasonable value, or who is a dealer in the business who fails to keep required records, is presumed to know the property was stolen. Those presumptions are rebuttable, and rebutting them — with a receipt, a marketplace listing, a text conversation with the seller, the price actually paid — is the defense in most Jersey City cases.
Marketplace and street purchases · the most common charge
Serial-number checks after a stop
Graded by type regardless of value
Dealer record-keeping presumptions
Constructive possession is contested
Dealer presumptions and aggregated value
Record-keeping requirements and good-faith purchase
You cannot be convicted of both for the same property
| Value or property | Grade | Maximum | Court |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $200 | Disorderly persons | 6 months, $1,000 | Jersey City Municipal |
| $200–$500 | Fourth degree | 18 months, $10,000 | Superior Court |
| $500–$75,000 | Third degree | 3–5 years, $15,000 | Superior Court |
| $75,000 or more | Second degree | 5–10 years, $150,000 | Superior Court |
| Motor vehicle, firearm or CDS | Third degree or higher | 3–5 years+ | Superior Court |
Jersey City is a secondhand market: Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, street sales along Kennedy Boulevard, and dozens of resale shops. Buying a used phone at a discount is not a crime, and a discount alone does not prove you believed it was stolen. What we look for is what an ordinary buyer would have seen: was the device locked to another account, was a serial number ground off, was the price so far below market that it defies explanation, and what did the seller actually say. When the answers are ordinary, the knowledge element fails.
For clients who run pawn, resale or scrap businesses, the dealer presumptions in 2C:20-7 make record-keeping the defense. We work through the transaction logs, identification records and reporting obligations, because a compliant dealer is not a fence, and the statute’s presumption is rebutted by the records themselves.
Then the State cannot convict you. Knowledge, or the belief that the property was probably stolen, is an element of 2C:20-7. The statute creates rebuttable presumptions in certain circumstances, but purchase records, messages with the seller and the price paid regularly rebut them.
It is graded like theft, by value: under $200 is a disorderly persons offense in municipal court; $200 or more is an indictable crime — fourth, third or second degree — in Superior Court.
They can both be charged, but you cannot be convicted of both theft and receiving the same property. In practice, prosecutors charge in the alternative and one count is dismissed or merged at resolution.
Substantially. A documented purchase — the listing, the messages, the price, the meeting — is direct evidence that you acquired the item as an ordinary buyer rather than knowing it was stolen. Preserve those records and do not delete the conversation.
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Ibrahim & Ibrahim Law Firm
910 Bergen Ave, Suite 203
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Directions · a five-minute walk from Journal Square PATH; two blocks from the courthouse complex
