Committee advances bill making gift card tampering a felony amid rise in organized retail crime

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance Senate Bill 130 after testimony from Senator Scott Mayden and industry representatives describing escalating gift card tampering schemes.

Mayden told the committee the bill addresses “gift card scams and theft of gift card redemption information” that have affected communities in the Commonwealth, saying local police uncovered separate more-than-$1,000,000 schemes in Louisville and Lexington last year. ‘‘Individuals called takers swipe the shelf of the gift cards, manipulate the cards to obtain the redemption information,’’ Mayden said, summarizing the three-part criminal pattern he described: takers, placers and checkers.

The committee substitute would establish clear criminal penalties, define gift card tampering as a felony in specified circumstances, treat face value on tampered cards as a defined economic value, and add gift-card fraud to the credit-card fraud statute. Mayden said the committee substitute was negotiated with the defense bar and the Department of Public Advocacy.

Shannon Stiglitz, identified as senior vice president of government affairs for the Kentucky Retail Federation, attended as a guest. The committee adopted a substitute and then passed the bill; the clerk recorded the vote as 8-0 and the sponsor was instructed to proceed to the Senate floor.

The bill’s text, as presented in committee, includes statutory definitions and felony-level penalties for tampering with gift card redemption information; reporters and readers should consult the bill language for the precise elements and penalty ranges.