[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:
BUSINESS DAY
A day on which business is done.
DEALER
A pawnbroker, precious metals dealer, scrap metal dealer, antique dealer and/or secondhand dealer as defined by this section.
GOVERNMENT IDENTIFICATION
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.
ITEM
Personal property, precious metal, antique and/or secondhand or used good.
MINOR
Any person under the age of 18.
PAWNBROKER
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.
PLEDGE
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.
PLEDGER
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.
PRECIOUS METAL
An item containing or being of ten-karat gold or greater fineness, silver, platinum, including, but not limited to, jewelry and silver services.
PRECIOUS METAL DEALER
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.
SECONDHAND DEALER or ANTIQUE DEALER
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.
SECONDHAND OR USED GOOD
One that is being purchased by or otherwise transferred to a second or later end user.
SELLER
The person who obtains payment from a dealer in return for the sale of any merchandise to the dealer.
TOWNSHIP OPERATING LICENSE
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.
TRANSACTION
A purchase, sale or loan by any dealer.
WORKING DAYS
Weekdays of Monday through Friday, exclusive of holidays.
A. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
All records shall include the following information:
(1) 
Date of sale;
(2) 
Time of sale;
(3) 
Location of sale;
(4) 
Make;
(5) 
Model;
(6) 
Serial number;
(7) 
Model number;
(8) 
Description;
(9) 
Color;
(10) 
Special markings of the pledge or sale item;
(11) 
Currency amount paid to pledger or seller, or both, if pledger is different from seller; and
(12) 
Photocopy of the pledger's or seller's government identification, or both, if pledger is different from seller.
C. 
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. 
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. 
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.
B. 
Dealers must notify the Pennsylvania Bureau of Ride and Measurement Standards' Weights and Measures Division whenever a weighing device referred to in Subsection A above is moved from one location to another.
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. 
A photocopy of verified government-issued identification; and
B. 
An accurate physical description of the pledger or seller, or both, if pledger is different from seller, including race, gender, eye and hair color and identifying marks, if any.
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. 
Responsibility of Township.
(1) 
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) 
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. 
Responsibility of dealer.
(1) 
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) 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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.
A. 
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. 
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:
(1) 
The dealer's Township operating license shall be suspended for 90 days for the first offense.
(2) 
The dealer's Township operating license shall be suspended for a period of one year upon each succeeding offense.
C. 
Suspension of pawnbroker's license.
(1) 
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) 
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) 
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. 
Cease operations.
(1) 
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) 
Cease-operations order.
(a) 
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) 
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) 
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) 
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. 
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.