[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Warrington 11-14-2017 by Ord.
No. 2017-O-14. 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, 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
re-sale 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 section.
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.
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.
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 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 had 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 $200 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 1 and 1/38 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
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 (1) above is moved from
one location to another.
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
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 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 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.
(3)
The Township Police Department may, by virtue of this
chapter, require a fee of up to $400 per location to defray the costs
of the internet-accessible electronic inventory tracking system.
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 Section 607 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 Items 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 shall
pay a fine not exceeding $600 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 1 above, a Dealer who violates any provisions
of 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 ever obtaining an operating license in the Township,
regardless if the Secretary of Banking for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
reinstates the Dealer's 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.
