[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Adams County 1-21-1992 by Ord. No. 1-1992. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Includes the Sheriff and any other lawfully authorized member
of the Adams County Sheriff's Office.
A person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of
lending money on personal property or goods which are pledged as security
for the loan on the condition that if the loan is not repaid within
a specified period of time the goods used as security may be sold
to compensate for nonpayment.
No person, firm or corporation shall carry on or operate within
the County the business of pawnbroker without being duly licensed
as herein provided and in accordance with §§ 138.10
and 134.71, Wis. Stats.
Application for a pawnbroker's license shall be made to the
County Clerk upon forms provided by the County Clerk for such purpose.
Each application for a license shall state:
A.
Name and address of applicant.
B.
The name and address of the business sought to be licensed.
C.
Name of person, officers or partners and their residence where the
applicant is a partnership or corporation, together with the state
of incorporation, if applicable. It shall also contain the names of
one or more persons whom such corporation or partnership shall designate
as manager or person in charge, with the address or addresses of the
same.
D.
Any requirements mandated by state law.
E.
Such other reasonable and pertinent information as the County Clerk
may from time to time require.
The County Sheriff shall investigate or cause to be investigated
each applicant for such license and shall furnish to the County Clerk
in writing the information derived from such investigation.
A.
The County Board may authorize or deny the license or may delegate
such decision to the discretion of the County Clerk.
B.
No license shall be granted to any person who is not of good moral
character and a full citizen of the United States and who has not
resided in the State of Wisconsin continuously for a period of at
least one year prior to the date of filing his application, nor shall
any such license be granted or issued to any person who has habitually
been a petty law offender or has been convicted of an offense against
the laws of the United States or any laws of this state punishable
by imprisonment in the state prison or other penal institution as
felonies unless the person so convicted has been duly pardoned, subject
to § 134.71, Wis. Stats.[1]
D.
Every person so licensed, prior to the time of receiving such license,
shall enter with at least two sufficient sureties into a joint and
several bond to the County of Adams in the penal sum of $500 for the
due observation of all ordinances of the County Board as may be passed
or enforced respecting pawnbrokers.
E.
No such license shall be transferable.
F.
Each license is valid from January 1, or the date of license approval,
until December 31 of that same year.
A.
Pawn receipt.
(1)
Every pawnbroker shall at the time of each loan deliver to the person
pawning or pledging any goods, article or thing a pawn receipt signed
by him containing the name and business address of the pawnbroker
to whom pledged, a brief description of such goods, article or thing
pawned or pledged, the amount of money loaned thereon, and the date
and time of pledging the same. There shall be no charge for issuing
a pawn receipt.
(2)
Every pawn receipt shall be made out in duplicate, numbered serially,
and a copy thereof shall be retained by the pawnbroker and shall be
open to the inspection of the County Sheriff during normal business
hours.
(3)
Any person pawning or pledging any goods, article or thing shall
present adequate identification to the pawnbroker at the time of loan.
The type and kind of identification shall be limited to one of the
following:
(a)
A County identification card.
(b)
A valid Wisconsin motor vehicle operator's license.
(c)
A state identification card.
(d)
A valid motor vehicle operator's license, containing a picture,
issued by another state.
(e)
A military identification card.
(f)
A valid passport.
(g)
An alien registration card.
(h)
A nonpicture identification document by a state or federal government,
if the pawnbroker also obtains a clear imprint of the person's right
index finger.
(i)
A senior citizen's identification card containing a photograph.
B.
Records to be kept.
(1)
Every pawnbroker shall keep a bound book, in which shall be clearly
and legibly written in ink at the time of each loan or purchase an
accurate and true description in the English language of the goods,
article or thing pawned, pledged or bought, the amount of money loaned
thereon, or paid therefor, the date and time of pledging the same,
and true name of person dealt with as nearly as known, as well as
his signature, place of residence, sex, age, height, build, color
of hair, complexion, color and style of beard or mustache and description
of dress, and no entry made in such book shall be erased, obliterated
or defaced. The description of the property shall include, but not
be limited to, any trademark, identification number, serial number,
model number, brand name, description by weight and design of such
property, other identification marks and inscriptions of a personal
nature, and any other identifying details. Such book, as well as every
article or thing of value pawned, pledged or purchased, shall be open
to the inspection of the County Sheriff during normal business hours.
The book shall be retained for a period of not less than a year.
(2)
The pawnbroker shall obtain a written declaration of ownership from
the person pawning or pledging any goods, article or thing which shall
state whether he or she has owned the article, whether he or she or
someone else found the article, and if the article was found, the
details of its finding.
(3)
The person pawning or pledging the item shall sign his or her name
in such book and on the declaration of ownership.
C.
Daily report to be made.
(1)
It shall be the duty of every licensed person aforesaid to make out and deliver to the County Sheriff, upon demand, a legible, complete and correct copy from the book required by Subsection B of all personal property and other valuable thing received on deposit or purchased during the preceding day, except furniture and household goods, together with the time of the day when the same was received or purchased, an accurate and true description in the English language of the goods, article or thing pawned, pledged or bought, the amount of money loaned thereon, or paid therefor, and true name of person dealt with as nearly as known, as well as his place of residence, sex, age, height, build, color of hair, complexion, color and style of beard or mustache and description of dress.
(2)
If any article so left on deposit, pledged or purchased has engraved
thereon any number, word or initial or contains any settings of any
kind, the description of such article in such report shall contain
such number, word or initial and shall show the kind of settings and
the number of each kind.
D.
Articles to be held for 30 days. Any personal property, goods, article
or thing pledged as security for a loan shall be kept on the pawnbroker's
premises in the form it was received for not less than 30 days, for
inspection by the County Sheriff, except in cases of conditional transactions
when the person known by the licensee to be the true owner shall have
prompt opportunity to redeem, repurchase or recover the article.
E.
County Sheriff to hold article for identification. The County Sheriff
may, in his own discretion, cause any article or thing of value which
has been pawned, pledged, or purchased, which he shall have reason
to believe was not so pawned, pledged, or disposed of by the lawful
owner, to be held for the purpose of being identified by such lawful
owner for such reasonable length of time as the County Sheriff shall
deem necessary for such identification.
F.
Minors. No pawnbroker shall have any business dealings as a pawnbroker
with any person less than 18 years of age, except with the written
consent of the parents or guardian of the minor to each particular
transaction.
G.
Intoxicated persons. No pawnbroker shall bargain for, take, purchase
or receive in pawn any property, bonds, notes, securities, articles
or other valuable thing from any person intoxicated or obviously under
the influence of a drug.
H.
Stolen goods. It shall be the duty of every pawnbroker to report
to the Sheriff's Office any article pledged with him, or which is
sought to be pledged with him, if he shall have reason to believe
that the article was stolen or lost, and found by the person attempting
to pledge it in the case of a lost article.
The County Board may revoke any license issued under the provisions
of this chapter for fraud, misrepresentation, or false statement contained
in the application for a license or in the course of conducting the
business of pawnbroker, or for any violation of this chapter.
Any person or firm violating any of the provisions in this chapter
shall, upon conviction, forfeit not less than $50 nor more than $1,000
for a first offense and not less than $500 nor more than $2,000 for
a second or subsequent offense, together with the costs of prosecution.
