Massachusetts General Laws
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 266, § 20 (2026)
Stealing in building, ship or railroad car
✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
MAmalegislature.gov (official)
JustiaChapter on Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
Section 20. Whoever steals in a building, ship, vessel or railroad car shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment in jail for not more than two years.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 38
cases (6 in the last 5 years), 1926–2025 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Sollivan, 663 N.E.2d 580 (Mass. App. Ct. 1996).
Commonwealth v. Sollivan, 663 N.E.2d 580 (Mass. App. Ct. 1996). “G. L. c. 266, § 20. At their separate trials, they moved for required findings of not guilty of the charges of larceny in a building.”
Commonwealth v. Wellard, 53 Mass. App. Ct. 650 (Mass. App. Ct. 2002). “On appeal, the *654 defendant essentially claims that the Commonwealth’s evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the perpetrator’s intent was to commit the felony of larceny in a building under G. L. c. 266, § 20, and implies that any larcenous intent…”
Commonwealth v. Cruz, 714 N.E.2d 813 (Mass. 1999). “The defendant also contends that the judge erroneously failed to define the crime of “stealing from a building” under G. L. c. 266, § 20, apparently in connection with the following instruction: “The crime that is defined in our statute provides .”
Maher v. Ret. Bd. of Quincy, 895 N.E.2d 1284 (Mass. 2008). “266, § 18; stealing in a building, in violation of G. L. c. 266, § 20; and wanton destruction of property, in violation of G.”
Commonwealth v. Graham, 818 N.E.2d 1069 (Mass. App. Ct. 2004). “266, § 30, but G. L. c. 266, § 20, which provides: “Whoever steals in a building, ship, vessel or railroad car shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment in jail for not…”
Commonwealth v. Tirrell, 416 N.E.2d 1357 (Mass. 1981). “266, § 16, and larceny in a building, G.L.c. 266, § 20. [1] The trial judge sentenced him to serve twenty-five years in the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord and imposed a three- to five-year suspended sentence to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at…”
United States v. Tetioukhine, 725 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2013). “See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 266, § 20 . The conviction arose from Tetioukhine’s theft of multiple pieces of gold over several months from his then-employer, a jewelry company.”
Commonwealth v. Mock, 764 N.E.2d 924 (Mass. App. Ct. 2002). “He was later indicted on the same charges as well as on larceny in a building, G. L. c. 266, § 20, and resisting arrest, G.”
Commonwealth v. Abdallah, 54 N.E.3d 1100 (Mass. 2016). “266, § 18; two counts of larceny from a building, G. L. c. 266, § 20; and receiving stolen property having a value over $250, G.”
Commonwealth v. Haggerty, 509 N.E.2d 1163 (Mass. 1987). “3 The defendant also was convicted of larceny in a building, G. L. c. 266, § 20; unarmed robbery, G. L.”
Commonwealth v. Barklow, 755 N.E.2d 830 (Mass. App. Ct. 2001). “The defendant was convicted of larceny in a building (G. L. c. 266, § 20) on a joint venture theory.”
Commonwealth v. Kane, 472 N.E.2d 1343 (Mass. App. Ct. 1984). “266, § 16) and larceny from a building (G. L. c. 266, § 20), allegedly committed on September 11, 1976.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.