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Dealing in Stolen Property Defense
Here is a trap few people see coming: steal a $400 tool set and it's a misdemeanor-level theft — pawn it, and you've committed a second-degree felony worth up to 15 years. Dealing in stolen property (§ 812.019) punishes the trafficking — selling, transferring, distributing, or even trying to — of property a person knew or should have known was stolen. Pawnshop databases report every transaction to law enforcement with ID and thumbprint, which is why so many of these cases begin with nothing more than a pawn ticket and an assumption.
If a detective has called about something you pawned or bought, do not explain — call or text 407-846-8008 first.
The Charges
• Dealing (trafficking) in stolen property — § 812.019(1): second-degree felony, up to 15 years.
• Organizing the theft-and-sale enterprise — § 812.019(2): initiating, planning, financing, or directing the trafficking — a first-degree felony, up to 30 years.
• Florida law lets the State lean on inferences — possessing recently stolen property, or buying far below value, can support “should have known.” But inferences are arguments, not proof, and they're rebuttable with the realities of how people actually buy, borrow, and sell.
A quirk that matters: Florida bars convictions for both theft and dealing for the same scheme — the State must ultimately elect. Charging both anyway is standard leverage, and defending against the pair requires knowing that rule better than the other side of the table.
Where These Cases Break Down
• Knowledge. The heart of the charge. Buying electronics at a flea market, pawning items for a friend or a boyfriend, selling what a roommate left behind — the State must prove you knew or should have known. The surrounding facts (price, condition, source, your candor at the pawnshop) usually tell a more innocent story than the affidavit does.
• Pawning your own disputed property — co-owned items from a breakup, loaned equipment, family property — is an ownership dispute, not trafficking.
• Identity and the counter clerk. ID-based pawn records show who pawned, not who stole — and “dealing” built on someone else's theft needs the knowledge link proven, not presumed.
• Restitution-driven resolutions. Returning property and making owners whole reframes these cases, often down to misdemeanors or diversion — outcomes that keep a 15-year felony off a working person's record.
Frequently Asked Questions
I pawned items for someone else as a favor. Am I really the one charged?
You're the one in the database. The defense is your lack of knowledge — and these are precisely the cases that reduce or fall apart when handled early.
The pawnshop took my ID and thumbprint. Doesn't that prove I wasn't hiding anything?
It helps — concealment is evidence of guilty knowledge, and its absence is evidence of the opposite. We use exactly that.
Can they charge me with theft AND dealing?
They can charge both; they can't convict on both for one scheme. Which one survives — and at what level — is where the lawyering happens.
What's realistic for a first offender?
With knowledge problems or restitution, reductions and withholds are regularly achievable, keeping the felony — and the word “stolen” — off your record.
A Pawn Ticket Is Not a Confession
Call or text 407-846-8008 for a free consultation with former prosecutor Chad Seibel. Office visits are by appointment only.