[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Township
of Lower Moreland 5-12-2015 by Ord. No.
701.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Peddling and soliciting — See Ch. 140.
[1]
Editor's Note: This provisions of this ordinance were
originally adopted as Ch. 114, but were renumbered to maintain the
alphabetical sequence of the Code.
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 operate a business.
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
Pawnbroker's 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 copy of every record
of transaction shall be delivered or mailed to the Lower Moreland
Police Department by the close of the next working day after the day
of the purchase or transaction.
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
log-in 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 § 134-7 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 the 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.
