Criminal tampering in the second degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 145.15 Criminal tampering in the second degree.
A person is guilty of criminal tampering in the second degree when, having no right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he has such right, he or she tampers or makes connection with property of a gas, electric, sewer, steam or water-works corporation, telephone or telegraph corporation, common carrier, nuclear powered electric generating facility, or public utility operated by a municipality or district; except that in any prosecution under this section, it is an affirmative defense that the defendant did not engage in such conduct for a larcenous or otherwise unlawful or wrongful purpose.
Criminal tampering in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.
A person commits second-degree criminal tampering by tampering or making a connection, without a right to do so or any reasonable ground to believe there is one, with property of a gas, electric, sewer, steam, or water-works corporation, telephone or telegraph corporation, common carrier, nuclear-powered electric generating facility, or municipal or district public utility. ★ It is an affirmative defense that the defendant did not act for a larcenous or otherwise unlawful or wrongful purpose. ★ The offense is a class A misdemeanor.
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.