NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1973 SESSION

CHAPTER 457

SENATE BILL 193

AN ACT TO AMEND G.S. 14-72.1.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 14-72.1, as the same appears in the 1971 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes of North Carolina, is hereby amended by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d), by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c) and by rewriting the new subsection (c) to read as follows:

"(c)       Any person who has been found guilty of an offense under either subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section and who is later found guilty of an offense under either subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section shall be guilty of a general misdemeanor and shall be punished in the discretion of the court."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 14-72.1, as the same appears in the 1971 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes of North Carolina, is further amended by adding a new subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b)      Whoever, without authority, wilfully transfers any price tag from goods or merchandise to other goods or merchandise having a higher selling price or marks said goods at a lower price or substitutes or superimposes thereon a false price tag and then presents said goods or merchandise for purchase shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) or by imprisonment for not more than six months or by both fine and imprisonment.

Nothing herein shall be construed to provide that the mere possession of goods or the production by shoppers of improperly priced merchandise for check- out shall constitute prima facie evidence of guilt."

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective on October 1, 1973.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 11th day of May, 1973.