[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Township
of Pocono 8-4-2014 by Ord. No.
2014-07. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A person, association, corporation or partnership, or other entity, who primarily engages in or operates the business of buying, acquiring and/or selling scrap metal as mentioned in § 324-2 below.
A person, association, corporation or partnership, or other entity, who primarily engages in or operates the business of buying, acquiring and/or selling any used goods or articles as mentioned in § 324-2 below.
A.
Permit required.
(1)
No person shall use, exercise or carry on the primary business, trade
or occupation of buying or selling 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, 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 Pocono without having first obtained a permit from the Township
as hereinafter provided.
(2)
Notwithstanding the foregoing, any business required by state law
under the Pennsylvania Code, Chapter 501, Purchase and Sale of Precious
Metals (37 Pa. Code § 501.1 et seq., Part VII, Precious
Metals) will still be required to obtain a permit through the Monroe
County Sheriff's Department.
B.
Application and fee. Persons applying for a permit shall apply to
the Township of Pocono. The applicant applying for said permit shall
pay an annual fee to the Township as set from time to time by resolution
of the Board of Commissioners. The Township will then forward the
approved application to the Monroe County District Attorney's
office. The permit so granted shall only be valid for one place of
business.
C.
Business on licensed premises only. No person permitted as a secondhand
dealer and/or pawnshop broker 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, at any time, take goods at any
other place than the place for which the permit was issued.
All permitted persons/businesses shall conduct their business
in conformity with the following procedures:
A.
Each and every person permitted shall carry said permit on their
person/business for inspection by any law enforcement officer or other
officials designated by the Monroe County District Attorney's
office. The permitted person/business shall also keep a log in which
shall be legibly written in the English language the name of the person,
his/her address, date of birth, a valid driver's license, valid
state identification card, valid passport or a valid military identification.
The permitted person/business 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 law enforcement officer and/or Township Zoning Officer.[1]
B.
All permitted persons/businesses shall fill out at the time of transaction
a receipt of purchase approved by the Monroe County District Attorney's
Office and the dealer will 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 Township
Zoning Officer upon request.) All transactions must be reported within
24 hours of purchase to a representative of the Monroe County District
Attorney's office in a manner prescribed by the District Attorney.[2]
C.
All goods purchased by a permitted person/business under this chapter must be retained in the possession
of the licensee for 30 days and must remain in the County of Monroe
during the waiting period.
D.
No permitted person/business 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 permitted person/business has reason to suspect
or believes to be such.
A.
This chapter shall be enforced by action brought before a Magisterial
District Judge in the same manner provided for the enforcement of
summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Any person, partnership, corporation or other entity who or which
violates or permits a violation of the provisions of this chapter
shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, pay a fine of not
more than $1,000, plus the costs of prosecution, and shall have his/her
license suspended for a period of 10 days, and this suspension shall
be mandatory, and, in default of the payment of the fine and costs
of prosecution, shall be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 30
days. Such fines to be collected as like fines are collected in Townships
of the First Class in Pennsylvania.[1]
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
permit revoked for one year.
