Receiving Stolen Property Lawyer in Woodbridge, Middlesex County

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

Receiving stolen property, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7, is graded by the value of the property under the general theft scale in N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2(b): less than $200 is a disorderly persons offense, $200 to $500 is a 4th-degree crime carrying up to 18 months, over $500 and under $75,000 is a 3rd-degree crime carrying 3 to 5 years, and $75,000 or more is 2nd degree, carrying 5 to 10. Receiving a firearm, an access device or certain other listed items is 3rd degree at any value.

Below $200, the local court where police recovered the property hears it; in Edison that is 100 Municipal Boulevard, in Old Bridge, 1 Old Bridge Plaza. From 4th degree up, the case belongs to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Superior Court in New Brunswick. We defend receiving charges from our Edison office. Many of the people I have represented over more than 15 years of criminal trial work never stole anything; the case against them was about what they knew when the item came into their hands.

The Mental State Is the Whole Case

Section 2C:20-7(a) applies when a person “knowingly receives or brings into this State movable property … other than a motor vehicle, of another knowing that it has been stolen, or believing that it is probably stolen.” The State must prove each of these beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. Receiving. The person acquired possession, control or title, or lent money on the security of the property.
2. The property was actually stolen. Belief is not enough by itself. In State v. Hodde, 181 N.J. 375 (2004), the Supreme Court held that the State must prove the property really was stolen.
3. Knowledge or belief. The person knew it was stolen or believed it was probably stolen.

That third element is subjective. The question is what this defendant knew or believed, not what a careful buyer should have suspected. A “reasonable person” or “should have known” test, which some websites describe, is not the law.

Affirmative defense. It is a defense that the property was received with purpose to restore it to its owner.

Cars are separate. Since July 7, 2023, receiving a stolen motor vehicle is its own crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:20-10.2: 2nd degree at $75,000 or more, otherwise 3rd degree. Our auto theft page covers it.

Five Inferences the Jury May Draw

Because knowledge is hard to prove directly, subsection (b) lists situations in which a jury “may” infer the required knowledge or belief. These are permissive inferences, not presumptions. The jury can reject them, and the model jury charge for receiving tells jurors they are never required to draw them.

• Repeat items. The person possessed two or more items stolen on two or more separate occasions.
• A prior receipt. The person received stolen property in another transaction within the year before the one charged.
• Dealers who do not ask. A person in the business of buying or selling that kind of property acquired it without having ascertained, by reasonable inquiry, that the seller had a legal right to possess and sell it. The current statute focuses on that failure to inquire; it does not contain the “far below value” phrasing some older summaries use.
• Defaced access devices. The person had two or more defaced access devices, such as altered cards.
• Cargo without paperwork. The person had property belonging to a cargo carrier without proper documentation or other evidence of a right to possess it.

Jurors hear about an inference only if the trial evidence supports giving it; see State v. Humphrey, 183 N.J. Super. 580 (Law Div. 1982). Contesting whether an inference applies at all is often the most important pretrial argument in these cases.

Value Bands for a Receiving Charge

Section 2C:20-7 contains no grades of its own; every row comes from 2C:20-2(b). Value is fair market value when and where the property was received, and the jury decides the range. Amounts from one scheme or course of conduct may be aggregated, so several small purchases can be charged together.

Consequences Specific to a Receiving Charge

• Restitution to the owner for any loss not recovered, under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-2.
• Fines up to $15,000 for 3rd degree and $10,000 for 4th degree, or up to double the gain or loss.
• First-offender presumption. A first offender convicted of a 3rd- or 4th-degree receiving charge has a presumption of non-imprisonment under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(e).
• Repeat retail-theft extended term. Receiving is one of the offenses that counts toward the mandatory extended term in N.J.S.A. 2C:20-11.3 for people with two or more prior qualifying convictions within 10 years.
• No NERA and no license penalty for receiving ordinary property.
• Expungement. Receiving is not on the 2C:52-2(b) bar list; the usual 5-year wait applies to one indictable conviction, with a 4-year early path for compelling circumstances.
• Immigration. Federal law lists a theft offense, “including receipt of stolen property,” with a term of imprisonment of at least one year as an aggravated felony. A non-citizen should have an immigration lawyer review any plea and proposed sentence.

How Receiving Cases Arise and Proceed in Middlesex County

Receiving charges in Middlesex tend to come from a few recurring situations: a phone or tablet bought from an online listing and handed over in a parking lot off Route 1, tools resold out of a pickup truck, a resale business that bought goods without checking where they came from, or property found in a car during a traffic stop on Route 1, Route 9 or the Turnpike in Woodbridge, Edison or Sayreville.

Where the case starts. A tracked phone or a serial-number match brings police to a house in Piscataway or an apartment in New Brunswick. If the value is under $200, the officer usually issues a summons to the town’s municipal court. If it is higher, the complaint goes to the MCPO at 25 Kirkpatrick Street. A complaint-warrant instead of a summons can mean waiting in the North Brunswick jail until a judge addresses release.

Searches. Many of these cases begin with a car or home search. Whether the stop, the consent or the warrant was valid can decide the case, so we look first at how police found the property. See our pages on car searches and the motion to suppress.

Downgrades. A 4th-degree count, or a 3rd-degree count resting on a disputed valuation, can sometimes be remanded to municipal court as a disorderly persons offense with the county prosecutor’s consent. Returning the property and documenting how and from whom it was bought often help that discussion.

Grand jury. Cases the MCPO keeps are presented to a grand jury in New Brunswick, then assigned to a Superior Court judge at 56 Paterson Street.

Related charges. Since 2025, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7.1 covers dealing in stolen property through online platforms and social media, and N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7.3 makes it a disorderly persons offense to advertise or help sell property you know or reasonably believe is stolen. Where several people resell shoplifted goods together, prosecutors may also look at organized retail theft.

PTI and Conditional Dismissal

For a 3rd- or 4th-degree count, a person with no record may seek PTI; the filing goes to the Middlesex Criminal Division no later than the Initial Case Disposition Conference after arraignment, and the prosecutor has to agree. The prosecutor will consider whether the person was a one-time buyer or part of an ongoing resale operation, because under Court Rule 3:28-4 an application should generally be rejected when the crime was part of a continuing criminal business or enterprise. For a disorderly persons charge, conditional dismissal in municipal court is usually available to someone with no prior conviction or diversion. Return of the property or restitution is a common condition in both.

Defenses to Receiving Stolen Property

• No knowledge or belief. A fair price, a seller who seemed legitimate, receipts or a normal-looking listing all undercut the claim that you knew or believed the item was stolen.
• Not actually stolen. Under Hodde, the State must prove a theft occurred, not just that the item looked suspicious.
• No inference applies. One item, no prior transaction, and no dealer status means none of the (b) inferences fit.
• No possession. Property in a shared car, room or storage unit is not automatically yours.
• Purpose to return. Taking property in order to return it to its owner is an affirmative defense.
• Unlawful search. Evidence from an invalid stop or search can be suppressed.

Talk to a Middlesex County Receiving Stolen Property Lawyer

Keep the listing, messages, payment records and any receipt. Do not contact the seller. Call our Edison office at (732) 659-9600, any hour, or send us a note.