GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

1987 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 910

HOUSE BILL 2253

 

AN ACT TO MAKE IT A CRIMINAL OFFENSE IN WASHINGTON COUNTY FOR A PERSON TO OBTAIN AMBULANCE SERVICES WITHOUT INTENDING TO PAY FOR THOSE SERVICES ALTHOUGH FINANCIALLY ABLE TO PAY AND TO MAKE IT A CRIMINAL OFFENSE IN WASHINGTON COUNTY FOR A PERSON TO MAKE AN UNNEEDED AMBULANCE REQUEST.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 14-111.2 reads as rewritten:

"§ 14-111.2.  Obtaining ambulance services without intending to pay therefor - certain named counties.

Any person who with intent to defraud shall obtain ambulance services without intending at the time of obtaining such services to pay, if financially able, any reasonable charges therefor shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00), imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. A determination by the court that the recipient of such services has willfully failed to pay for the services rendered for a period of 90 days after request for payment, and that the recipient is financially able to do so, shall raise a presumption that the recipient at the time of obtaining the services intended to defraud the provider of the services and did not intend to pay for the services.

The section shall apply to Anson, Ashe, Beaufort, Caldwell, Caswell, Catawba, Chatham, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Cumberland, Davie, Duplin, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Haywood, Henderson, Hoke, Hyde, Iredell, Macon, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Orange, Pasquotank, Person, Randolph, Robeson, Rockingham, Scotland, Stanly, Surry, Transylvania, Union, Vance, Washington, Wilkes and Yadkin Counties only."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 14-111.3 reads as rewritten:

"§ 14-111.3.  Making unneeded ambulance request in certain counties.

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to willfully obtain or attempt to obtain ambulance service that is not needed, or to make a false request or report that an ambulance is needed. Every person convicted of violating this section shall upon conviction be punished by a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00) or imprisonment not to exceed 30 days or both such fine and imprisonment.

This section shall apply only to the Counties of Ashe, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Davie, Duplin, Haywood, Hoke, Macon, Madison, Robeson, Washington, Wilkes and Yadkin."

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective October 1, 1988, and shall apply to offenses occurring on or after that date.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 23rd day of June, 1988.