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General Overview of Theft from Interstate Shipment

Section 659 of title 18 proscribes the embezzlement, theft, or unlawful taking from certain listed facilities, including pipelines, railroad cars, motor trucks, depots, aircraft, aircraft terminals, vessels and wharves, of goods or chattels which are moving as, are part of, or constitute an interstate or foreign shipment. Similar acts with regard to the baggage in the possession of a common carrier for interstate or foreign transportation or of any property of a passenger in interstate or foreign transportation are also prohibited by the section. Section 659 also prohibits the buying, receiving, or possession of such goods or chattels by a person knowing them to have been embezzled or stolen. Where the value of the goods does not exceed $100 the theft is punishable as a misdemeanor; otherwise it is a felony. [cited in USAM 9-61.300]