58-1-634 - Unauthorized sale or disposition of military property or equipment Penalty.
58-1-634. Unauthorized sale or disposition of military property or equipment Penalty.
(a) Any person who shall sell, or offer for sale, barter or exchange, pledge, lend or give away, secrete, or retain after demand made by the civil or military officers of the state of Tennessee any clothing, arms, military outfits or accoutrements, or any other military property or equipment furnished by or through the state of Tennessee or the United States to any member of the military forces of the state of Tennessee, or who shall receive by purchase, barter, exchange, pledge, loan or gift, any such military property or equipment of the state of Tennessee or the United States, is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.
(b) Any person in the military forces of the state of Tennessee, to whom shall have been entrusted any military property or equipment by reason of being in such military service, shall account for the same to the proper military authority in accordance with the rules, regulations or special orders made by superior authorities in reference to the same, and such military property shall not be removed beyond the boundaries of the state of Tennessee unless required by the performance of the individual's military duties. Any person, whether in the military service or not, or whether enlistment or appointment shall have expired or not, who shall fail to account for or return to the proper military authorities any property which shall have come into such person's possession and to which the state of Tennessee or the United States may be entitled, or who shall conceal or convert the same to such person's own use, is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided further, that if such person leaves the state, after having failed to account for or return to the proper military authorities such property, such person is guilty of a felony and shall be punished as in the case of theft.
(c) Any prosecution had under the provisions of this section may be abated, in the discretion of the district attorney general, if, prior to arraignment, full satisfaction is made for the property involved to the proper military authorities of the state of Tennessee or the United States and the payment of all court costs accruing by reason of the institution of any such prosecution has been made.
(d) This section is to be given general application and shall not be limited in its application by the provisions of § 58-1-632, but is not to be construed in any way to amend or modify any prevailing laws regarding military property as heretofore and hereafter amended.
[Acts 1970, ch. 596, § 67; 1978, ch. 612, § 1; T.C.A., § 7-334; Acts 1989, ch. 591, §§ 75, 113.]