[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of Upper
Moreland Township 2-10-2014 by Ord. No. 1635. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A day on which business is done.
A pawnbroker, precious metals dealer, scrap metal dealer,
antique dealer and/or secondhand dealer as defined by this section.
A valid identification document issued by a state or federal
government, bearing a photograph that gives identifying data, such
as name, date of birth, gender, physical description, and current
address of the person bearing the card.
Personal property, precious metal, antique and/or secondhand
or used good.
Any person under the age of 18.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, or
other business entity, including an itinerant merchant, doing business
in the Township that lends money in exchange for personal property
deposited by a pledger as security that can be sold if the loan is
not repaid within a specified period, and/or engages in purchase and
resale of any merchandise from a pledger or seller.
An article and/or articles deposited with a pawnbroker as
security for a loan or currency, in the course of his/her business
as defined in the preceding definition.
The person who obtains the loan from a pawnbroker and delivers
a pledge into the possession of a pawnbroker, unless such person discloses
that he/she is or was acting for another, in which case a "pledger"
means the disclosed principal.
An item containing or being of ten-karat gold or greater
fineness, silver, platinum, including, but not limited to, jewelry
and silver services.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, or
other business entity, including an itinerant merchant, doing business
in the Township, that purchases or makes appraisals of precious metals
and their alloys for resale to refiners, brokers, or the public.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, or
other business entity, including an itinerant merchant, doing business
in the Township, that purchases or makes appraisals of secondhand
or used goods for resale or refining, or an individual who acts as
an agent for such individual, partnership, association, corporation,
or other business organization or entity.
One that is being purchased by or otherwise transferred to
a second or later end user.
The person who obtains payment from a dealer in return for
the sale of any merchandise to the dealer.
The business license issued by the Township to permit the
lawful operations of any business subject to the regulations of this
chapter within Upper Moreland Township.
A purchase, sale or loan by any dealer.
Weekdays of Monday through Friday, exclusive of holidays.
A.Â
License. No person shall act as a dealer unless he or she has obtained
a Township operating license from the Township for each location from
which that person seeks to act as a pawnbroker.
B.Â
Registration. Any applicant seeking to obtain or maintain his or
her Township operating license must annually register with the Township's
Police Department and pay an annual registration license fee of $200
or as amended by the Township Fee Schedule from time to time for each
location from which the applicant intends to operate.
C.Â
Pawnbrokers license. No Township operating license shall be issued
by the Township to act as a pawnbroker unless the applicant has been
licensed first by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as required by
the Act of April 6, 1937, P.L. 200, 63 P.S. § 281, as amended.
D.Â
Enforcement. Any Township operating license issued pursuant to the
provisions of this chapter shall be regulated and enforced by the
Township's Police Department.
A.Â
All dealers are required to maintain records of all transactions,
including, but not limited to, pledges, loans, purchases and sales.
Records shall be kept in the English language.
B.Â
All records shall include the following information:
(1)Â
Date of sale;
(2)Â
Time of sale;
(3)Â
Location of sale;
(4)Â
Make;
(5)Â
Model;
(6)Â
Serial number;
(7)Â
Model number;
(8)Â
Description;
(9)Â
Color;
(10)Â
Special markings of the pledge or sale item;
(11)Â
Currency amount paid to pledger or seller, or both, if pledger
is different from seller; and
(12)Â
Photocopy of the pledger's or seller's government
identification, or both, if pledger is different from seller.
C.Â
A color photograph shall be produced for items without identifiable
marks and/or numbers. A color photograph shall be produced for all
precious metals received.
D.Â
A copy of all pledge and/or sale transactions containing this information
shall be retained at the location of business for a period of two
years after the date of transaction, payment, loan, or sale of the
pledge, whichever is later.
A.Â
All scales or other devices used by dealers to weigh precious metals
must be of a type approved for commercial use in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania and must be inspected and sealed by the Pennsylvania
Bureau of Ride and Measurement Standards' Weights and Measures
Division.
The dealer shall obtain the following information from the pledger
or seller, or both, if pledger is different from seller, for the purposes
of establishing identification of each pledger and seller:
A dealer may seize any item offered in a sale or pledge which
he/she has reason to believe is stolen property. The dealer shall
issue a seizure receipt to the person presenting such property in
pledge and shall immediately deliver such seized property, together
with a copy of the seizure receipt, to the Township Police Department.
A.Â
Responsibility of Township.
(1)Â
The Township Police Department shall enter into an agreement with
an online entity which operates an electronic database for law enforcement
agencies for the purpose of identifying stolen merchandise and persons
suspected of thefts.
(2)Â
The entity chosen by the Township Police Department to administer
the electronic inventory tracking system shall insure that all data
remain secure and confidential by providing to each dealer login security
protocols which meet current industry standards, and shall employ
state of the art technology to protect the data from all forms of
unauthorized access and malicious intrusion.
B.Â
Responsibility of dealer.
(1)Â
Each dealer doing business in the Township shall, within 30 days
of the adoption of this chapter, maintain an electric inventory tracking
system which is capable of securely and confidentially uploading all
transactions via computer to the entity designated by the Township
Police Department.
(2)Â
Daily upload. No later than the conclusion of each business day,
every dealer must upload, in the manner specified by the Police Department,
the required tracking information for all transactions during the
course of business on that day.
A.Â
All items shall be kept in unaltered condition, available for inspection by law enforcement officials in the course of their law enforcement duties, for 10 working days following a transaction by a dealer or a data upload as specified in § 211-7 above.
B.Â
Law enforcement officials shall not require a search warrant to inspect
the item, unless the inspection is made during hours other than regular
business hours.
C.Â
During the holding period, any item subject to the holding period
shall be segregated from other inventory to insure that it is not
placed in an area or section where personal property and/or precious
metals are offered for sale. Where any item is held off the premises,
the dealer shall make the item available for inspection within 24
hours after receiving a request for inspection by law enforcement
officials.
D.Â
Any law enforcement official who has reason to believe any item was
not sold or exchanged by the lawful owner may direct the dealer to
hold the item for a reasonable length of time that the law enforcement
official considers necessary to identify it.
All business transactions between dealers and minors are prohibited.
A.Â
Fines. Any person and/or dealer who violates, fails, neglects, or
refuses to comply with any provision of this chapter shall pay a fine
not exceeding $300 and costs and, in default of payment thereof, shall
be subject to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 days. Each
day that a violation of this chapter continues shall be considered
a separate offense.
B.Â
Dealer's license suspension. In addition to the fines specified in Subsection A above, a dealer who has been convicted of a violation of any provisions of this section shall have his/her Township operating license(s) suspended as follows:
C.Â
Suspension of pawnbroker's license.
(1)Â
If a pawnbroker's Township operating license is suspended, the
Township shall provide written notice of the suspension to the Secretary
of Banking for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Secretary of
Banking shall then conduct a hearing to ascertain if the pawnbroker's
state-issued license shall be revoked.
(2)Â
If the Secretary of Banking for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
revokes the pawnbroker's state-issued license, the pawnbroker
shall be prohibited from ever obtaining a Township operating license
in the Township, regardless if the Secretary of Banking for the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania reinstates the pawnbroker's state-issued license.
(3)Â
No Township operating license shall be issued when any pawnbroker's
state-issued license has been revoked by the Secretary of Banking
for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where the pawnbroker retains
a property interest in the location where the operating license was
suspended or the pawnbroker retains a pecuniary interest in the corporation
or any affiliated business entities therein.
D.Â
Cease operations.
(1)Â
During any period of suspension of a dealer's Township operating
license, the dealer shall cease operation at each and every location
of the dealer's business.
(2)Â
Cease operations order.
(a)Â
The Township shall issue a cease operations order for each business
location operated by the dealer whose license(s) has/have been suspended
in accordance with the Township Administrative Code.
(b)Â
The cease operations order shall identify the prohibited operations
and shall state that the applicable license has been suspended for
violation(s) of the Code.
(c)Â
The cease operations order shall be in force for the full period
of any Township operating license suspension, and shall set forth
this period in the order.
(d)Â
The Township shall not remove any posted cease operations order
until the Township is satisfied that all suspended licenses have been
restored, or the property interests in the location have changed so
that neither the person or dealer under Township operating license
suspension, nor any member of his immediate family, or in the case
of a corporation, the corporation or any affiliated business entities,
retain a pecuniary interest therein.
E.Â
License at cease operations location. No person or dealer shall be
issued a Township operating license for a business location that has
been posted with a cease operation order, as long as any person under
a Township operating license suspension or revocation, or any member
of that person's immediate family, or in the case of a corporation,
the corporation or any affiliated business entities, retain a pecuniary
interest in the property at that location.