Theft of Services Attorney in New Brunswick, Middlesex County

Reviewed by William A. Proetta, Esq. · Updated October 2026

Skipping out on a bill or diverting a service you have not paid for is theft of services under N.J.S.A. 2C:20-8, and the value of the service sets the grade: under $200 is a disorderly persons offense (up to 6 months in county jail), $200 to $500 is a 4th-degree crime (up to 18 months), more than $500 is 3rd degree (3 to 5 years), and $75,000 or more is 2nd degree. Every conviction also carries mandatory restitution to the provider and a minimum fine of $500 per offense.

Most charges, such as an unpaid restaurant tab or a hotel stay, stay in the municipal court of the town where the service was provided. In Edison that is 100 Municipal Boulevard; in New Brunswick, 25 Kirkpatrick Street; in Woodbridge, 1 Main Street. Larger amounts and telecommunications schemes are indictable and are sent up to the county prosecutor and the Superior Court bench in New Brunswick. Our Edison office handles both levels; my own trial work spans more than 15 years.

What the State Must Prove

Subsection (a) covers a person who purposely obtains services that he knows are available only for payment, by deception, threat, a false token or slug, or any other means meant to avoid paying. “Services” is broad: labor and professional work, transportation, telephone and other telecommunications, electricity, water, gas and cable, hotel rooms and restaurant meals, admission to entertainment, and the use of vehicles or other movable property.

Subsection (b) covers a person who has control over someone else’s services and diverts them to his own benefit, or to someone not entitled to them.

Three points carry most cases:

• Purpose at the time. The person must have intended not to pay when obtaining the service. Running short of money afterward is a debt, not a crime.
• The “absconding” presumption. Where payment is ordinarily due right away, as at hotels and restaurants, leaving without paying or offering to pay creates a presumption of deception about the intent to pay. It can be rebutted with evidence such as a disputed bill or a card that was declined after the meal.
• Value. The grade depends on the value of the services, and amounts from one scheme can be aggregated under 2C:20-2(b).

Grading by Value and Type

For tampering with a meter or line, the statute presumes the customer responsible, but not for a customer who has had service for less than 31 days or before a meter reading has occurred. That matters for new tenants who move into a Sayreville or Old Bridge unit where someone else rigged the meter.

Tolls and Train Fares Are Usually Not Crimes

Two situations bring many people to us, and both are usually civil rather than criminal.

Turnpike tolls. A violation of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s toll-collection rules under N.J.S.A. 27:23-34.2 carries a civil penalty of up to $100 for the first violation and up to $600 for each one after, collected under the Penalty Enforcement Law. That is not a criminal charge. Criminal exposure arises only if a prosecutor charges the unpaid tolls as theft of services, which can be aggregated as one scheme to reach an indictable grade. Stealing an E-ZPass transponder itself is a disorderly persons theft.

NJ Transit fares. Under the 1997 fare-evasion law (N.J.S.A. 27:25-5.6 to 5.17), fare enforcement officers may detain a rider who willfully evades a fare long enough to identify the person or issue a summons. The law set a civil penalty of up to $100 per violation, not a criminal offense. A criminal charge would come only under 2C:20-8, for example for a counterfeit pass or a pattern of evasion at stations such as Metropark, Edison or New Brunswick on the Northeast Corridor.

Consequences

• Restitution and the $500 floor. Subsection (k) requires restitution to the vendor and a minimum fine of $500 for each offense, even in municipal court. Our restitution article explains how the amount is fixed.
• Jail. Uncommon for a first disorderly persons offense, and for 3rd- and 4th-degree grades the 2C:44-1(e) presumption favors a non-custodial sentence for someone without a record.
• Record. A conviction is a theft record that employers see, but it is not on the expungement bar list. See our expungement eligibility guide.
• Immigration. Theft-type convictions can matter for non-citizens even at a low grade. Have an immigration attorney review any plea.

How These Cases Are Handled in Middlesex County

A typical case begins with a call from a restaurant on Route 1 or Route 9, or a hotel near the Turnpike, reporting a guest who left without paying. Officers in Edison, Woodbridge or New Brunswick usually identify the person from a card on file, a reservation or video and issue a summons to municipal court. When a group leaves a check unpaid, as can happen with students near Rutgers–New Brunswick, the question of who was responsible for paying becomes central.

In municipal court, repayment to the business frequently opens the door to conditional dismissal or another favorable resolution for someone with a clean record, though the prosecutor and the facts control. Larger cases, such as months of diverted utility service at a business or an aggregated toll-evasion case, go to the MCPO and may be heard by a grand jury in New Brunswick, though many are remanded to municipal court as disorderly persons offenses when the prosecutor agrees and the provider has been repaid.

Diversion

For a disorderly persons theft of services charge, conditional dismissal under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-13.1 is available to a defendant with no prior convictions or diversions; it involves a year of probation monitoring, restitution can be made a condition, and it leads to dismissal on completion. An indictable charge points instead to PTI, filed with the Middlesex Criminal Division before the first case disposition conference after arraignment. Our disorderly persons offenses guide explains the municipal court side.

Defenses

• Intent to pay. A declined card, a dispute over the bill or a misunderstanding about who was paying shows there was no plan to avoid payment.
• Rebutting the presumption. Evidence that you left contact information, returned or tried to pay rebuts the absconding presumption.
• Not the account holder. Meter or cable tampering presumptions do not apply to customers with less than 31 days of service.
• Wrong person. Hotel and toll cases often rest on a name or license plate, not on who was actually there or driving.
• Value. Disputed charges, inflated room rates and penalty fees are not the value of services.
• Civil matter. Unpaid tolls and fares are usually civil penalties, not crimes.

Call About a Theft of Services Summons

Bring your summons, any receipts and your bank statements to the first conversation. Call our Edison office at (732) 659-9600, day or night, or write to us. Related charges are covered on our Edison theft page and our New Brunswick theft page.