97-25-53 - Telegraphs and telephones; injuring or destroying lines; interrupting communications; stealing or destroying fixtures.
§ 97-25-53. Telegraphs and telephones; injuring or destroying lines; interrupting communications; stealing or destroying fixtures.
(1) Any person who shall intentionally obstruct, injure, break or destroy, or in any manner interrupt any telegraph or telephone line, or communication thereon between any two (2) points, by or through which the said lines may pass, or who shall injure or destroy any of the posts, wires, insulators, or fixtures, or things belonging to such telegraph or telephone lines, such person shall, on conviction, be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00), nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) Every person who shall be convicted of taking and carrying away, feloniously, such property as listed in subsection (1) of this section, of the value of one hundred dollars ($100.00) or more, shall be guilty of grand larceny, and shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding five (5) years, or shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
(3) If any person shall feloniously take, steal and carry away any such property as listed in subsection (1) of this section, under the value of one hundred dollars ($100.00), he shall be guilty of petit larceny and shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three (3) months, or by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00), or both.
Sources: Codes, 1857, ch. 64, art. 235; 1871, § 2702; 1880, § 2954; 1892, § 1300; 1906, § 1374; Hemingway's 1917, § 1114; 1930, § 1144; 1942, § 2381; Laws, 1902, ch. 100; Laws, 1981, ch. 541, § 18, eff from and after July 1, 1981.