West Virginia § 61-3D-2 Acquisition of cable television services

West Virginia Statutes

§ 61-3D-2 — Acquisition of cable television services

West Virginia § 61-3D-2

Ch. 61CRIMES AND THEIR PUNISHMENT

Art. 3DTHEFT OF CABLE TELEVISION SERVICES

This text of West Virginia § 61-3D-2 (Acquisition of cable television services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

W. Va. Code § 61-3D-2 (2026).

Text

(a)A person who acquires cable television services for himself or another, whether through his own efforts or with the assistance of another, or both, by:

(1)Making or maintaining any unauthorized connection, whether physically, electrically or inductively, to a distribution or transmission line;

(2)Attaching or maintaining the attachment of any unauthorized device to any cable, wire or other component of a cable system or to a television receiving set connected to a cable system;

(3)Making or maintaining any unauthorized modification or alteration to any device installed by a cable system operator; or

(4)Knowingly permits another person to enter upon his or her property for the purpose of securing cable service in an unauthorized manner as described in subdivision (1), (2) or (3)

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(a) A person who acquires cable television services for himself or another, whether through his own efforts or with the assistance of another, or both, by:

(1) Making or maintaining any unauthorized connection, whether physically, electrically or inductively, to a distribution or transmission line;

(2) Attaching or maintaining the attachment of any unauthorized device to any cable, wire or other component of a cable system or to a television receiving set connected to a cable system;

(3) Making or maintaining any unauthorized modification or alteration to any device installed by a cable system operator; or

(4) Knowingly permits another person to enter upon his or her property for the purpose of securing cable service in an unauthorized manner as described in subdivision (1), (2) or (3) of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished in accordance with subsection (c) of this section.

(b) A person who subscribes to and receives cable television services through an authorized connection of a television receiving set at his dwelling and, within his dwelling, makes an authorized or an unauthorized connection of an additional television receiving set or sets or audio system which receives cable television service through such authorized connection, shall not be guilty of a misdemeanor under subsection (a) of this section.

(c) Any person convicted of a misdemeanor under subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to the following penalties:

(1) Upon a first conviction under this section, the defendant shall be fined not less than $100, nor more than $250.

(2) Upon a second conviction under this section, the defendant shall be fined not less than $250, nor more than $500, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than thirty days, or both fined and imprisoned.

(3) Upon any subsequent conviction in excess of a second conviction under this section, the defendant shall be fined not less than $500, nor more than $1,000, or imprisoned in the county jail not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days, or both fined and imprisoned.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section four, article eleven-a of this chapter or section two-a, article three, chapter fifty of this code, the magistrate or court may order restitution not to exceed the value of unauthorized cable services received.