O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 40-3-92 (2019)

False report of theft or conversion

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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A person who knowingly makes a false report to a peace officer or the commissioner of the theft or conversion of a vehicle shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.

History

Ga. L. 1961, p. 68, § 33; Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 3; Ga. L. 1991, p. 969, § 1.

Annotations

Cross references. Penalty for false report of crime generally, § 16-10-26.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Application of the rule of lenity. - Defendant’s conduct, as charged, subjected the defendant to prosecution and sentencing under both O.C.G.A. §§ 16-10-20 and 16-10-26 as the defendant willfully and knowingly made a false statement to law-enforcement officers by falsely reporting a crime the

defendant alleged to have occurred in the officers’ jurisdiction. Because the two statutes provided different grades of punishment for the same criminal conduct, the defendant was entitled to the rule of lenity. Gordon v. State, 334 Ga. App. 633, 780 S.E.2d 376, 2015 Ga. App. LEXIS 700 (2015).

RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. 67 C.J.S., Obstructing Justice, § 16. U.L.A. Uniform Motor Vehicle Certificate of Title and Anti-Theft Act (U.L.A.) § 36.