California Officials Propose Legislation to Punish Looting in Fire Zones
The bill would make looting a felony instead of a misdemeanor and increase possible prison sentences to four years instead of one, and comes as law enforcement agencies report elaborate attempts to take advantage of victims.
California state lawmakers and Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman Monday announced proposed legislation aimed at stopping looters and others who would take advantage of property owners in fire zones.
The bill, AB 469, has bipartisan support in Sacramento and would make it a felony that could send unscrupulous scammers to longer prison terms, City News Service reports.
"We sent a message from the very beginning to the would-be looters, the arsonists, the people who would be impersonating firefighters, the price- gougers and the financial scammers," said Hochman, who was joined by Sheriff Robert Luna at a morning news conference at the Hall of Justice. "The question was not if, but when they would be arrested, then prosecuted, then punished to the maximum extent of the law, but when we turned to the law of looting, it turns out when we pulled open the penal code, we saw the law of looting was actually underwhelming."
The bill would make looting a felony instead of a misdemeanor and increase possible prison sentences to four years instead of one, and comes as law enforcement agencies report elaborate attempts to take advantage of victims in the Palisade and Eaton fire disaster zones.
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