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§47-4-105.
§47-4-105.
(a) It shall be the duty of every sheriff, chief of police or peace
officer to make immediate report to the Department of all vehicles
reported to their respective jurisdictions as being stolen or
recovered. Such report shall be made as prescribed by the Department.
(b) An owner or a lienholder may report the theft of a vehicle, or its
conversion if a crime, to the Department, but the Department may
disregard the report of a conversion unless a warrant has been issued
for the arrest of a person charged with the conversion. A person who
has so reported the theft or coversion of a vehicle shall, forthwith
after learning of its recovery, report the recovery to the Department.
(c) An operator of a place of business for garaging, repairing,
parking or storing vehicles for the public, in which a vehicle remains
unclaimed for a period of thirty (30) days, shall, within five (5)
days after the expiration of that period, report the vehicle as
unclaimed to the Department. Such report shall be on a form prescribed
by the Department.
A vehicle left by its owner whose name and address are known to the
operator or his employee is not considered unclaimed. A person who
fails to report a vehicle as unclaimed in accordance with this
subsection forfeits all claims and liens for its garaging, parking or
storing and is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine or not
more than Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) for each day his failure to
report continues.
(d) The Department shall maintain and appropriately index cumulative
public records of stolen, converted, recovered and unclaimed vehicles
reported to it pursuant to this section. The Department may make and
distribute weekly lists of such vehicles so reported to it to peace
officers upon request without fee and to others for the fee, if any,
the Department prescribes.
(e) Any peace officer who has reason to believe or upon receiving
information that a motor vehicle has been stolen shall have and is
hereby vested with authority to confiscate and hold such vehicle until
satisfactory proof of ownership is established.
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