[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Warwick 6-17-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-2. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Excludes Saturdays, Sundays and federal or state legal holidays.
A pawnbroker, dealer in precious metals, antique dealer and/or
secondhand dealer.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation or business
entity, who or which purchases precious metals from the general public
for resale or other commercial disposition, or any individual who
acts as agent for such individual, partnership, association, corporation
or business entity for such purchase or purchases.
An unexpired document issued by the federal government, the
commonwealth or any other state government, the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any United States territory that
includes all of the following: the name, age, date of birth and address
of the seller; a photograph of the seller; an expiration date.
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.
Items containing or being of gold, silver or platinum, including,
but not limited to, jewelry and silver services, but excluding coins,
ingots, bullion or photographic film or any article containing less
than 5% of gold, silver or platinum by weight.
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 for
value 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.
A purchase, sale or loan by any dealer.
A.
License required. No person shall act as a Dealer unless he or she
has obtained a license from the Township for each location from which
that person intends to operate.
B.
Registration. No person shall act as a Dealer unless he or she pays
an annual registration license fee of as outlined in the Township
fee schedule for each location from which the applicant intends to
operate.
C.
Pawnbrokers license. No license to act as a Pawnbroker shall be issued
by the Township unless the Applicant has been licensed first by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as required by the Pawnbrokers License
Act, 63 P.S. 281-1, et seq.
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 and/or seller;
(12)
Copy of the pledger/seller government identification.
C.
A color photograph shall be produced for all items. A color photograph
shall be produced for all precious metals received. The photograph
shall be taken from two different perspectives; no less than 1:1 scale;
and of sufficient size and clarity to identify any distinguishing
details of a purchased item, including identifying marks, initials,
insignias, inscriptions or other unique identifying features.
D.
A photograph of the seller, directly facing the camera in full-face
view, of sufficient size to ensure that the head measures between
one and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of
the head.
E.
A copy of all pledge and/or sale transactions containing this information
shall be retained at the location of the business for a period of
two years after the date of transaction, payment, loan or sale of
the pledge, whichever is later.
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 Bucks County
Weights and Measures, Department of Consumer Protection.
The dealer shall obtain the following information from the pledger
and/or seller for the purposes of establishing identification of each
pledger and/or seller:
A dealer may seize any item offered in a sale or pledge which
the dealer 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 ensure 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.
Responsibility of dealer.
(1)
Each dealer doing business in the Township shall, within 30 days
of the adoption of this chapter, maintain an electronic inventory
tracking system which is capable of securely and confidentially uploading
all transactions via computer to the online entity designated by the
Township Police Department.
(2)
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 full business days following a transaction by a dealer or a data upload as specified in § 136-7 above.
B.
Law enforcement officials shall not be required to obtain 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 ensure that it is not
placed in an area or section where personal property and/or precious
metals are offered for sale. Where any item(s) 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 items 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.
Fines. Any person and/or dealer who violates, fails, neglects or
refuses to comply with any provision of this chapter, upon summary
conviction before a District Justice, shall pay a fine not exceeding
$1,000 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 violates any provisions of this chapter shall have his license(s) suspended.
C.
Suspension of dealer's license.
(1)
If a dealer's 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 dealer's license shall
be revoked.
(2)
If the Secretary of Banking for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
revokes the dealer's license, the dealer shall be prohibited
from obtaining an operating license in the Township for five years
or at such time the dealer obtains another valid license,
(3)
No operating license shall be issued when any dealer's license
has been revoked by the Secretary of Banking for the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, where the dealer 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 license suspension, 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 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 been changed
so that neither the person or dealer under 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 license for a business location that has been posted with
a cease operation order, as long as any person under a 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.
