Under California theft laws, the key number is $950. Stealing property worth $950 or less is petty theft, generally a misdemeanor. Stealing more than that is grand theft, which prosecutors can charge as either a misdemeanor or a felony carrying up to three years in custody. Penalties escalate based on what was taken, how it was taken, and your prior record, and Proposition 36, approved by voters in November 2024, opened new felony exposure for people with repeat theft convictions.
How California Defines Theft
Penal Code 484 covers anyone who steals another person’s property, fraudulently keeps property entrusted to them, or tricks someone out of money or goods through lies or false pretenses.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 484 – Theft Defined The prosecution has to prove you intended to permanently deprive the owner of the property. Borrowing something without permission and returning it doesn’t meet that bar.
The statute collapses several older categories into a single offense. Physically taking someone’s belongings (larceny), skimming from an employer who trusted you with money (embezzlement), and conning someone into handing over their property (theft by false pretenses) are all prosecuted under the same law. The facts determine the jury instructions; the charging statute is the same.
The $950 Line Between Petty and Grand Theft
Penal Code 490.2 makes any theft of property valued at $950 or less petty theft, regardless of how the theft was committed.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 490.2 – Petty Theft Threshold Grand theft under Penal Code 487 kicks in when the value exceeds $950.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 487 – Grand Theft
Several categories are grand theft regardless of value. Stealing a car or firearm is always grand theft. Taking property directly from a person is always grand theft. For agricultural products, including produce, livestock, and aquaculture, the felony threshold drops to $250. And an employee who steals from an employer faces grand theft if the total exceeds $950 across any 12-month period, even when each individual incident was small.
Petty Theft Penalties
Standard petty theft is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 490 – Petty Theft Punishment First-time offenders with clean records rarely serve jail time. Judges typically impose probation, community service, or a diversion program that can keep the conviction off your record if you finish the requirements.
A lighter option exists for very minor cases. When the stolen property is worth $50 or less and you have no prior theft convictions, the prosecutor can file the offense as an infraction. That carries a maximum fine of $250 and no jail time.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 490.1 – Petty Theft Infraction It functions roughly like a traffic ticket.
Grand Theft Penalties
Grand theft is a “wobbler,” meaning prosecutors can charge it as a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the facts and your record. As a misdemeanor, it carries up to one year in county jail. As a felony, the sentence is 16 months, two years, or three years.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 489 – Grand Theft Punishment
Under California’s realignment law, most felony grand theft sentences are actually served in county jail rather than state prison.7California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1170 – Sentencing State prison is reserved for defendants with prior serious or violent felony convictions or those required to register as sex offenders. The practical difference matters because county jail sentences come with more options for work release and split sentencing.
Firearm theft is the exception. It always carries a state prison sentence of 16 months, two years, or three years.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 489 – Grand Theft Punishment Courts also routinely order restitution requiring you to repay the victim for the full value of what was stolen or damaged.
Shoplifting Under Penal Code 459.5
California has a dedicated shoplifting statute separate from its general theft law. Penal Code 459.5 defines shoplifting as entering a commercial establishment during regular business hours with the intent to steal merchandise worth $950 or less.8California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 459.5 – Shoplifting The distinction matters because it stops prosecutors from stacking charges. If the conduct meets the shoplifting definition, you can’t also be charged with burglary or theft for the same act.
Shoplifting under this statute is a misdemeanor with the same penalties as petty theft. People with prior convictions for certain serious or violent felonies, or those required to register as sex offenders, can be charged with felony shoplifting even when the merchandise is worth less than $950.8California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 459.5 – Shoplifting
Enhanced Penalties for Repeat Offenders
California layers increasingly harsh consequences on people with prior theft convictions. The specifics depend on the type and number of priors.
Petty Theft With a Prior
Penal Code 666 turns what would normally be a simple misdemeanor petty theft into a wobbler for a narrow group: registered sex offenders, people with prior serious or violent felony convictions, and those previously convicted of elder theft. With a qualifying background and a prior conviction for theft, burglary, robbery, carjacking, or receiving stolen property, the next petty theft can be charged as either a misdemeanor (up to one year in county jail) or a felony.9California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 666 – Petty Theft With Prior
Serial Theft Under Proposition 36
Proposition 36, approved by voters in November 2024, added Penal Code 666.1, which reaches further than the older PC 666. Under the new section, anyone with two or more prior convictions for a broad list of theft-related offenses who commits a new petty theft or shoplifting faces wobbler charges. A second or subsequent conviction under this section can be punished by up to one year in county jail or a state prison term.10California Secretary of State. Proposition 36 Text of Proposed Laws Qualifying priors include petty theft, grand theft, burglary, robbery, carjacking, shoplifting, vehicle theft, identity theft, and receiving stolen property.
Prop 36 also lets prosecutors add up the value of items stolen across multiple separate thefts and charge a single count based on the combined total. Ten separate $200 shoplifting incidents can now be aggregated into a single $2,000 grand theft charge.10California Secretary of State. Proposition 36 Text of Proposed Laws Before this change, each incident was typically charged individually as a misdemeanor.
Organized Retail Theft
When three or more people act together to commit theft, Proposition 36 allows the felony sentence to be extended by up to three additional years.11Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 36 Ballot Analysis The provision targets coordinated smash-and-grab operations and organized retail crime rings.
Three Strikes
California’s Three Strikes law dramatically increases sentences for defendants with prior serious or violent felony convictions. A second strike doubles the sentence for any new felony. A third strike originally triggered an automatic 25-years-to-life sentence even for minor crimes.12Legislative Analyst’s Office. The Three Strikes and You’re Out Law After voters scaled the law back in 2012, a theft conviction now only triggers a third-strike life sentence if the current offense qualifies as serious or violent, or if the defendant has prior convictions for offenses like murder, rape, or child molestation.
Civil Demand From Merchants
Criminal penalties are not the only financial consequence of shoplifting. Under Penal Code 490.5, a merchant can demand between $50 and $500 in damages from anyone who unlawfully takes merchandise, plus the retail value of any merchandise not returned in sellable condition. This is available regardless of whether criminal charges are filed.13California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 490.5 – Petty Theft Civil Recovery
The demand usually arrives as a letter from a law firm representing the retailer, asking for a flat payment of a few hundred dollars. Two things worth knowing. Paying the demand does not protect you from criminal prosecution. And ignoring the letter does not automatically lead to a lawsuit; stores have the right to file in small claims court, but most don’t follow through on individual demand letters. The demand is a legally authorized claim, not a scam. When a parent or guardian has custody of an unemancipated minor who shoplifts, the same $50 to $500 civil liability applies to them jointly.13California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 490.5 – Petty Theft Civil Recovery
Immigration Consequences for Noncitizens
A theft conviction can carry consequences far more serious than jail time for noncitizens. Theft offenses are generally classified as crimes involving moral turpitude under federal immigration law. Under 8 U.S.C. ยง 1227, a noncitizen is deportable if convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years of admission to the United States, if the offense carries a possible sentence of one year or longer.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens
Even a misdemeanor grand theft conviction can trigger removal proceedings, because the maximum possible sentence exceeds one year. Petty theft, with its six-month maximum, generally falls under the federal “petty offense exception” and may not trigger removal, but a second theft conviction eliminates that safe harbor. For noncitizens facing theft charges, the immigration stakes often outweigh the criminal penalties, and negotiating a plea to a specific charge and sentence that avoids immigration triggers is frequently the most important part of the defense.
Common Legal Defenses
The strongest defenses attack the intent element the prosecution has to prove.
Lack of Intent to Steal
If you genuinely intended to return the property or believed you had a right to take it, the prosecution can’t establish intent to permanently deprive the owner. This comes up in disputes between business partners, family members, or roommates, and in situations where someone borrows property and intends to bring it back. You don’t have to prove your intent was innocent; the jury only needs enough doubt about your state of mind.
Mistake of Fact or Consent
A reasonable but mistaken belief that the property was yours, or that the owner gave you permission to take it, negates criminal intent. The key word is reasonable. A court asks whether an ordinary person in your situation would have drawn the same conclusion. Grabbing someone else’s identical-looking bag at a coffee shop is a straightforward mistake of fact. A story that strains credulity won’t hold up.
Entrapment
Entrapment applies when law enforcement pressured or induced you to commit a theft you wouldn’t have otherwise committed. California uses an objective test: the question is whether the police conduct would have caused a normally law-abiding person to commit the crime, not whether you personally were predisposed to steal. The defense comes from case law, particularly the California Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Barraza, rather than a specific statute. Sting operations that merely provide an opportunity to steal don’t qualify; the police conduct has to cross into actual pressure or persuasion.