Title 18Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-73

§1707 Theft of property used by Postal Service

Title 18 › Part PART I— - CRIMES › Chapter CHAPTER 83— - POSTAL SERVICE › § 1707

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

It is a crime to steal, take, or misuse property used by the Postal Service; penalty is fine and/or up to 3 years in prison, or up to 1 year if value is $1,000 or less.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §1707

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Whoever steals, purloins, or embezzles any property used by the Postal Service, or appropriates any such property to his own or any other than its proper use, or conveys away any such property to the hindrance or detriment of the public service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; but if the value of such property does not exceed $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 313 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 190, 35 Stat. 1124). The phrase “used by” was substituted for “in use by or belonging to” in order to limit the application of the section to property used by the Post Office Department. Theft of public property belonging to governmental departments is covered by section 641 of this title. A fine of “$1,000” was substituted for “$200,” thus increasing the maximum to conform with other comparable sections. (See section 1705 of this title.) The smaller penalty for an offense involving property valued at $100 or less was added. (See reviser’s notes under section 641 and 645 of this title.) Minor changes in phraseology were made.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1996—Pub. L. 104–294 substituted “$1,000” for “$100”. 1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000” after “service, shall be” and for “fined not more than $500” after “he shall be”. 1970—Pub. L. 91–375 substituted “Postal Service” for “Post Office Department”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1970 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an

Effective Date

note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 1707

Title 18Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73