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SB657 • 2026

Larceny; charging several acts or any offense.

<p class=ldtitle>A BILL to amend and reenact § 19.2-223 of the Code of Virginia, relating to charging several acts of larceny or any offense deemed larceny.</p>

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Durant
Last action
2026-02-11
Official status
Failed
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on court procedures or outcomes that may change due to this amendment.

Laws About Charging People for Multiple Larcenies

This law allows the government to charge someone with multiple larceny offenses that happened within six months in one case.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows the Commonwealth to charge a person accused of larceny or any offense deemed larceny for several distinct acts committed within six months from the first to the last act charged.

Who It Names or Affects

  • People accused of larceny and related crimes
  • Law enforcement agencies that handle such cases

Terms To Know

Larceny
The act of stealing property from another person.
Commonwealth
A term used to refer to the government or state, in this case Virginia.

Limits and Unknowns

  • Does not specify how long after an offense it can be charged.
  • The law does not change what counts as larceny but only how multiple offenses are charged.
  • It is unclear if there will be changes to court procedures or outcomes due to this amendment.

Bill History

  1. 2026-02-11 Courts of Justice

    Passed by indefinitely in Courts of Justice (8-Y 6-N 1-A)

  2. 2026-02-11 Senate

    Senate committee offered

  3. 2026-01-21 Senate

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB657)

  4. 2026-01-14 Senate

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26101167D

  5. 2026-01-14 Courts of Justice

    Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice

Official Summary Text

Charging several acts of larceny or any offense deemed larceny.
Permits the Commonwealth to charge and proceed against a person accused of larceny or any offense deemed larceny for any number of distinct acts of such larcenies that may have been committed by him within six months from the first to the last of the acts charged in the indictment.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
SENATE BILL NO. 657

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice

on ________________)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Durant)

A BILL to amend and reenact §
19.2-223
of the Code of Virginia, relating to charging several acts of larceny or any offense deemed larceny.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §
19.2-223
of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§
19.2-223
. Charging several acts of larceny or any offense deemed larceny; description of money.

A.
In a prosecution against a person accused of embezzling or fraudulently converting to his own use bullion, money, bank notes
,
or other security for money or items of personal property subject to larceny
,
it
shall be
is
lawful in the same indictment or accusation to charge and
thereon
to proceed against the accused for any number of distinct acts of such embezzlements or fraudulent conversions
which
that
may have been committed by him within six months from the first to the last of the acts charged in the indictment
;
,
and it shall be sufficient to allege the embezzlement or fraudulent conversion
to be
is
of money without specifying any particular money, gold, silver, note
,
or security. Such allegation, so far as it regards the description of the property, shall be sustained if the accused
be
is
proved to have embezzled
or
acquired
any bullion, money, bank note
,
or other security for money or items of personal property subject to larceny although the particular species
be
is
not proved.

And in

B. In

a prosecution for the larceny of United States currency or for obtaining United States currency by a false pretense or token, or for receiving United States currency knowing the same to have been stolen, it shall be sufficient if the accused
be
is
proved guilty of the larceny of national bank notes or United States treasury notes, certificates for either gold or silver coin, fractional coin, currency, or any other form of money issued by the United States government, or of obtaining the same by false pretense or token, or of receiving the same knowing it to have been stolen although the particular species
be
is
not proved
.

C. In a prosecution for any offense deemed larceny other than embezzlement, it is lawful to aggregate into a single
indictment any distinct offenses

that occur within six months from the first to the last of the acts charged

if
the offenses are based on the same act or transaction, or on two or more acts or
transactions
that are connected or
constitute parts of a common scheme or plan
.