Larceny in a building is a Michigan felony that applies when someone steals property from inside certain structures, no matter how little that property is worth. The charge lives at MCL 750.360, and it carries up to four years in prison. A five-dollar item taken from inside a store can produce the same charge, in theory, as a far more valuable theft. The location does the heavy lifting.
What the Prosecution Has to Prove
Four elements, each beyond a reasonable doubt.
First, a taking and carrying away. Even slight movement counts. Sliding a laptop off a desk into a bag, pocketing merchandise, or picking up someone else’s phone and walking toward the door all qualify.
Second, the property belongs to someone else and the owner did not consent. Borrowing a coworker’s charger with permission is not larceny. Taking one from an empty desk might be.
Third, intent to permanently deprive. The person had to mean to keep the property at the moment of the taking, not later. This is where contested cases usually live. Walking out of a store with an item still in your hand, or honestly believing the thing was yours, undercuts intent.
Fourth, the theft happens inside one of the structures the statute lists. That location requirement is what elevates the offense from simple larceny.
Which Buildings the Statute Covers
The statute names specific structures rather than defining “building” generally. Covered locations include homes, house trailers, offices, stores, gas stations, shops, warehouses, mills, factories, hotels, schools, barns, granaries, ships, boats, vessels, churches, locker rooms, and any building used by the public.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750-360 – Larceny, Places of Abode, Work, and Public Buildings The catch-all phrase pulls in a lot: libraries, gyms, government offices, hospital waiting rooms, community centers.
Motor vehicles are not on the list. Stealing from a parked car is a separate offense under Michigan law, not larceny in a building. Tents and other open-air or temporary setups also fall outside, because every listed location is an enclosed, permanent or semi-permanent structure.
Why the Value of the Item Doesn’t Matter
Under Michigan’s general larceny statute, penalties scale with the value of what was taken: thefts under $200 are 93-day misdemeanors, and the ladder climbs from there up to ten-year felonies for property worth $20,000 or more.
Larceny in a building ignores the ladder. A theft of a five-dollar item from inside a covered building is a felony with a maximum of four years in prison.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750-360 – Larceny, Places of Abode, Work, and Public Buildings The same five-dollar theft on a park bench is a misdemeanor topping out at 93 days. The building changes everything.
Courts also routinely order restitution for the value of the property, and a judge can add probation, community service, and fines on top.
How It Differs from Burglary
Both offenses involve theft and buildings, and people mix them up constantly. The difference is how the person got inside.
Burglary, charged in Michigan as breaking and entering, requires an unlawful entry into a structure with intent to commit a crime inside. The maximum is ten years.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750-110 – Breaking and Entering The illegal entry is the heart of the offense.
Larceny in a building has no entry element. The person can be lawfully inside: a shopper, a hotel guest, an employee, a student. If they steal while inside, this is the charge that fits. Prosecutors reach for it when they have strong evidence of a theft but weak evidence of a break-in.
Shoplifting and the Retail Fraud Carve-Out
Shoplifting happens inside a store, so the obvious question is whether prosecutors can charge it as larceny in a building. Michigan law answers directly. The retail fraud statute bars prosecutors from charging second-degree or third-degree retail fraud as larceny in a building.3Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750-356d – Retail Fraud Those lower-level retail fraud charges stay in their own penalty structure.
First-degree retail fraud, which involves property worth $1,000 or more, is not covered by the same restriction. Prosecutors have more room to maneuver on higher-value retail thefts, which is why defense attorneys pay close attention to how the property’s value is calculated.
Defenses That Target the Charge
Because intent is a required element, most effective defenses go after it.
Honest mistake. If you genuinely didn’t realize you were walking out with the item, or you grabbed someone else’s property thinking it was yours, there’s no intent to steal. This comes up more than people expect: similar-looking bags, coats left on chairs, items a child slipped into a cart. Security footage, witness accounts, and the surrounding circumstances determine whether the explanation holds.
Claim of right. If you took the property because you sincerely believed it was yours, that belief negates intent even if you were mistaken. The classic example is grabbing a bicycle from a rack that looks identical to your own. Courts assess whether the belief was reasonable and held in good faith.
Intoxication. Larceny in a building is a specific-intent crime, so a defendant who was severely intoxicated may not have been capable of forming the required mental state. Courts are skeptical when the intoxication was voluntary, but the argument can reduce a charge or support a plea to a lesser offense in the right case.
Consent. If the owner gave permission, no theft happened. These disputes come up often among friends, roommates, and relatives, where one person claims the other had the go-ahead to borrow or keep the item. The prosecution has to prove the taking was unauthorized.
What a Conviction Costs Beyond the Sentence
This is a felony, and the aftermath of a felony record often outlasts the sentence itself.
Firearms. Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison from possessing firearms or ammunition.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Because larceny in a building carries up to four years, a conviction triggers that ban. The prohibition is permanent unless the conviction is expunged or the person obtains a specific restoration of rights.
Employment. There’s no federal blanket ban on hiring people with felony records, but employers can and do weigh criminal history. The EEOC advises them to consider the seriousness of the offense, how much time has passed, and the nature of the job.5U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Arrest and Conviction Records – Resources for Job Seekers, Workers A felony theft conviction is a real barrier for jobs involving money, inventory, or sensitive access.
Professional licensing. Boards in healthcare, education, finance, and contracting typically require disclosure of felony convictions and can deny, suspend, or revoke a license over a theft-related offense. The specifics vary by board and profession.
Getting the Conviction Expunged
Michigan allows expungement of certain felonies, including larceny in a building. A person with a single felony must wait at least five years from the latest of sentencing, completion of probation, discharge from parole, or release from prison.6Michigan Attorney General. Expungement Assistance Someone with more than one felony waits seven years. Up to three felony convictions can be cleared in total, with violent and sexual offenses excluded.
A successful expungement removes the conviction from public record, restores firearm rights, and ends the obligation to disclose it on most job applications. For a one-time mistake, that outcome is often the most important long-term goal once the sentence has been served.