[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Middle Smithfield 8-22-2013 by Ord. No. 194.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Peddling and soliciting — See Ch. 140.
This chapter may be known and may be cited as the "Middle Smithfield
Township Pawn Shop Ordinance" of 2013.
A.
License required. No person shall use, exercise or carry on the business,
trade or occupation of buying or selling secondhand or scrap gold,
old gold, silver jewelry, home electronics/audio and visual equipment,
including musical instruments, telephones and telephonic equipment,
cell phones, scales, computers, computer hardware and software, typewriters,
word processors, scanners, sporting goods of all kinds, antiques,
silver, platinum, copper and all other precious metals, tools of all
kinds, televisions, VCR/DVR, camcorders, digital recorders, car stereos,
firearms or other valuable articles, hereinafter referred to as "secondhand
goods or articles" or, being a secondhand dealer within the Township
of Middle Smithfield ("Township") without having first obtained a
license from the Township Code Enforcement Officer as hereinafter
provided. A "secondhand dealer" is defined as a person, association,
corporation or partnership, or other entity, who, wholly or in part,
engages in or operates the trade or business of buying or acquiring
any goods or articles as mentioned above, or other valuable goods,
or articles, except from a regularly established wholesale or retail
dealer. Any business required by state law under 37 Pa. Code, Part
VII, Precious Metals, Chapter 501, Purchase and Sale of Precious Metals,
§ 501.1 et seq., will still be required to obtain a permit
through the Monroe County Sheriff's Department.
B.
Application fee. The Township shall, from time to time, give and
grant licenses to all proper persons, except persons convicted of
receiving stolen goods, theft or burglary, who may apply for the same
to use, exercise, and carry on the trade or business or occupation
of buying secondhand goods or articles, or being a secondhand dealer
and/or pawnbroker, which said license shall state where said business
is to be carried on and shall continue in force for one year (unless
sooner suspended or revoked) and no longer; each person applying for
such license, if his/her application be approved in writing by the
Township Code Enforcement Officer, shall pay to said official an annual
fee of $750, and receive from said official a license to carry out
said business. The license so granted shall only be valid for one
place of business.
C.
Business on licensed premises only. No person licensed as a secondhand
dealer and/or pawnbroker in the Township shall, by virtue of one license,
keep more than one place of business for receiving or taking goods
in pawn; nor shall he/she, at any time, take goods at any other place
than the place for which the license was issued.
All licensees shall conduct their business in conformity with
the following procedures:
A.
Each and every person licensed shall carry said license on their
person/business for inspection by any law enforcement officer or other
Township Code Enforcement Officer. The licensee shall also keep a
log in which shall be legibly written in the English language the
name of the person who sells the licensee the secondhand good or article,
his/her address, date of birth, a valid driver's license, valid
state identification card, valid passport or a valid military identification.
The licensee shall have a description of the article purchased (which
will include any serial numbers and/or service tag number), the date
and time purchased, the amount of money paid therefor and the signature
of the seller. The log shall be available for review by any Township
law enforcement officer and/or Township Code Enforcement Officer.
B.
All licensees shall fill out at the time of transaction a receipt
of purchase approved by the Monroe County District Attorney's
office, and the licensee shall maintain a copy of the original receipt
at the business for a minimum of one year. (These receipts must be
available for inspection by any law enforcement personnel or the Code
Enforcement Officer upon request.) All transactions must be entered
within 48 hours of purchase into the Monroe County Precious Metals
website at (http://nepapmdb.com). (No receipts will be faxed, delivered
or e-mailed to the District Attorney's office; all receipts must
be maintained in the precious metals website.)
C.
All goods purchased by licensees under this chapter must be retained
in the possession of the licensee for 30 days.
D.
No licensee shall purchase such secondhand goods or articles or other
article of value from any person under 18 years of age, or from any
intoxicated person or any person known to be a thief or associate
of thieves, or receiver of stolen property, or any person whom the
licensee has reason to suspect or believes to be such.
E.
The Township Code Enforcement Officer is hereby authorized to make
any other rules and regulations necessary, in his/her opinion for
the proper conduct of the person or business licensed, and shall submit
such rules to the Board of Supervisors for review and approval.
A.
Any licensee failing, neglecting or refusing to comply with any of
the above provisions of this chapter shall, upon summary conviction
thereof in a summary proceeding before a district justice of Monroe
County, be fined a sum of not more than $300 for the first offense,
plus costs, and shall have his/her license suspended for a period
of 10 days. This suspension shall be mandatory. In default of payment
of such fines and costs, such person shall be imprisoned for a period
not exceeding 30 days. Such fines to be collected as like fines are
collected in Townships of the Second Class in Pennsylvania.
B.
Every day that a violation continues shall be a separate violation.
Each violation shall result in an additional ten-day suspension. A
person or entity that violates the provisions of this chapter four
times in a three-hundred-sixty-five-day period shall have his/her
license revoked for one year.
C.
In addition to the Township Code Enforcement Officer, the following
persons are authorized to enforce this chapter on behalf of the Township:
any county detective of the office of the Monroe County District Attorney;
any duly appointed or commissioned law enforcement officer of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and any other person authorized by the
Board of Supervisors by resolution.
