§ 14-288.6. Looting; trespass during emergency.

255 words·~1 min read·/nc/chapter-14/14-288-6

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

(a)Any person who enters upon the premises of another without legal justification in an emergency area during a declared state of emergency when the usual security of property is not effective due to the occurrence or aftermath of the emergency that prompted the declared state of emergency is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor of trespass during an emergency.

(b)Any person who commits the crime of trespass during emergency under subsection

(a)of this section and, without legal justification, obtains or exerts control over, damages, ransacks, or destroys the property of another is guilty of the felony of looting. A violation of this subsection is punishable as follows:

(1)If the looted property is temporary housing or is taken from temporary housing, a violation of this subsection is punishable as a Class F felony.

(2)If the looted property is anything other than property described in subdivision

(1)of this subsection, a violation of this subsection is punishable as a Class H felony.

(c)Any person whose person or property is injured by reason of a violation of this section may sue for and recover from the violator three times the actual damages sustained, as well as court costs and attorneys' fees. (1969, c. 869, s. 1; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1; c. 179, s. 14; 1993, c. 539, ss. 191, 1227; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2023-6, s. 2; 2025-18, s. 4(b).)