JOC Staff | Mar 22, 2013 10:14AM EDT
The New Jersey Legislature approved and sent to Gov. Chris Christie a bipartisan bill creating specific penalties for cargo theft.
The legislation, S2092/A3003, was approved 76-0 by the General Assembly. It had previously passed the Senate.
The bill would establish fines for leading or organizing cargo theft networks. The fines would be $250,000 for a second-degree crime, $500,000 for a first-degree offense or five times the value of the property seized, if that amount is larger.
The bill also would make it a criminal offense to operate a facility to sell or store stolen cargo, and would earmark cargo fine collections to fund law enforcement efforts to combat cargo theft.