As the Times recently reported, organized retail theft remains an ongoing problem around the Commonwealth. The legislature created a new criminal felony offense in response to the issue, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The new organized retail theft section requires proof that the person charged acted in concert with another person to commit larceny from a retail store and stole more than $5000 aggregated over a 90-day period with the intent to sell the stolen property for monetary or other gain.

Fentanyl

Another pressing public safety issue is the distribution of fentanyl. The Assembly passed a bill including any substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl in the definition of the term “weapon of terrorism” as that term is already defined in the Code. Any person who knowingly manufactures or distributes a sub- stance containing fentanyl for profit is now guilty of distributing a weapon of terrorism, punishable as a felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Sexual Extortion

The threat to release intimate photos or videos for the purpose of extorting sexual favors has unfortunately proliferated in the era of social media. Unfortunately, such actions did not violate the current criminal code, which requires a financial motive to establish extortion. The Assembly remedied the situation by enacting the Sexual Extortion section, which makes it a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison to threaten to release or publish intimate photos or videos for the purposes of extorting sexual favors.

Drones

As is often the case, the Code falls behind the progress of technology. Two new code sections address the proliferation of drones. The first makes it illegal to fly a drone for the purposes of secretively peeping or spying into a dwelling. The second prohibits flying drones over any jail or prison for the purposes of dropping any item or photographing or videotaping of inmates. As people devise more unlawful methods for using drones, expect more code sections addressing the problem.