Specialist Receiving Stolen Goods Attorneys

Any serious defence against a receiving charge starts with the statute itself. Article 298 of the Spanish Criminal Code (CP) provides, in an unofficial English rendering of the consolidated text:

"1. Whoever, for profit and with knowledge of the commission of an offence against property or the socio-economic order, in which he has taken part neither as principal nor as accomplice, helps those responsible to benefit from its proceeds, or receives, acquires or conceals such proceeds, shall be punished with imprisonment of six months to two years."

A penalty of one to three years' imprisonment applies where the goods are of artistic, historical, cultural or scientific value; where they are first-necessity goods or wiring, equipment or components of electricity or telecommunications infrastructure or other things intended for services of general interest (including agricultural or livestock products and the means used to obtain them); or where the facts are especially serious given the value of the goods or the foreseeable harm caused by their removal (Art. 298.1 CP).

Under Art. 298.2 CP, these penalties are imposed in their upper half on whoever receives, acquires or conceals the proceeds in order to trade in them; if the trading is carried out through commercial or industrial premises, a fine of twelve to twenty-four months is added, and the court may also impose special disqualification from the profession or trade for two to five years and order the temporary (up to five years) or permanent closure of the premises.

Under Art. 298.3 CP, in no case may the custodial penalty exceed the one provided for the concealed offence; if that offence carries a non-custodial penalty, a fine of 12 to 24 months applies instead, unless the concealed offence carries an equal or lower penalty, in which case that penalty is imposed in its lower half.

Elements of the offence: what the prosecution must prove

• A predicate offence against property or the socio-economic order. The goods must come from theft, robbery, fraud, misappropriation or a similar offence. No prior conviction of the thief is required: Article 300 CP applies the chapter even where the perpetrator of the prior offence is not criminally liable or is personally exempt from punishment.
• No participation in that prior offence as principal or accomplice: the thief cannot "receive" his own loot; his benefit is absorbed by the main offence.
• An act of benefiting: helping those responsible profit from the goods, or receiving, acquiring or concealing them, whether for payment or for free.
• Knowledge of the criminal origin. This is the real evidentiary battleground: consolidated Supreme Court case-law accepts dolus eventualis and infers it from indicia (vile price, lack of invoice, opaque sales channel, the buyer's commercial experience), all of which can be rebutted with counter-evidence of good faith.
• Own profit motive. The patrimonial advantage sought by the receiver is what separates this offence from encubrimiento (accessory after the fact, Art. 451 CP), which is committed "without own profit motive".
• Penalty cap (Art. 298.3 CP): the custodial penalty can never exceed the one assigned to the offence the goods come from — decisive when the prior offence is a minor one.

Three neighbouring offences punish conduct that follows a crime already committed, and prosecution briefs do not always distinguish them rigorously. Getting the classification right matters: penalties, limitation periods and available defences differ sharply.

• Profit draws the line with accessory liability. The receiver acts to benefit himself; the accessory under Art. 451.1 CP helps the perpetrators "without own profit motive". Where no personal gain is proven, a receiving charge is open to attack.
• The object draws the line with laundering. Receiving targets the proceeds themselves (the phone, the jewel, the copper); laundering targets concealing the origin of criminal assets and feeding them back into the lawful economy.
• Predicate offence and self-laundering. Receiving requires a property or socio-economic predicate in which the accused took no part; laundering covers any prior criminal activity, even one's own — self-laundering is punishable.
• Caps and exemptions. Receiving (Art. 298.3 CP) and accessory liability (Art. 452 CP) are capped: prison cannot exceed the penalty of the concealed offence. Laundering has no cap, punishes even gross negligence (Art. 301.3 CP) and enjoys no close-relative exemption, which Art. 454 CP reserves for accessories.

The general rule is clear: receiving stolen goods becomes time-barred five years after the offence. Under Article 131 CP, offences whose maximum penalty does not exceed five years' imprisonment prescribe at five years, and no form of receiving exceeds three years; nor does the special disqualification of the aggravated type exceed five years (with compound penalties, the one requiring the longest period governs, Art. 131.2 CP).

Time runs from the day the offence was committed (Art. 132.1 CP). Where the conduct charged is concealing the goods and that concealment continues, the prosecution may argue a permanent offence whose clock does not start until the unlawful situation ended — a contested point worth fighting case by case. The limitation period is interrupted, and the elapsed time wiped out, once proceedings are directed against the suspected person (Art. 132.2 CP).

Two contrasts matter for the defence: if the facts are recharacterised as money laundering, the period doubles, since the six-year maximum of Art. 301 CP takes prescription to ten years; and if, because of the cap in Art. 298.3 CP, the applicable penalty were that of a minor offence, prescription could drop to one year. Finally, the prescription of the offence must not be confused with the prescription of the sentence, which only starts running after a final judgment.

Receiving a court summons "as a suspect" (investigado) for receiving stolen goods is alarming, but the procedure follows clear rules and the statement can be prepared with all procedural safeguards in place. This is how it unfolds, step by step:

1. The summons. Check in what capacity you are summoned (suspect or witness), because the rights differ. As a suspect, the rule of Art. 486 LECrim is that you are summoned "only to be heard", without arrest, unless arrest is warranted. Failing to appear without good cause can turn the summons into an arrest warrant.
2. Rights from the first moment (Art. 118 LECrim). The right to be informed of the facts attributed to you, to examine the case file sufficiently in advance and in any event before testifying, to freely appoint a lawyer, to remain silent, to decline particular questions and not to incriminate yourself.
3. Preparing the defence. With the file in hand (police report, IMEI traceability, registry book, forensic reports) we assemble the good-faith evidence: the marketplace listing, the conversations with the seller, proof of payment, the invoice or witnesses to the purchase.
4. The statement (Art. 775 LECrim). At the first appearance the judge informs you, in the most comprehensible way, of the facts alleged; both before and after testifying you may confer privately with your lawyer. Testifying at length, answering only defence questions or remaining silent is a strategic choice made case by case.
5. After the statement. Once the relevant steps are completed, the judge rules under Art. 779 LECrim: dismissal, if the facts are not an offence or their commission is not sufficiently established, or continuation under the abbreviated procedure.
6. Negotiated outcomes. Early return of the item or judicial deposit of its value may count as a reparation mitigating factor, and the plea agreement (conformidad) — reformed by Organic Law 1/2025, with a preliminary hearing and a written-advice duty for defence counsel — allows the case to close with an agreed penalty when appropriate.

If you have been summoned over a receiving allegation, do not attend alone: the earlier the defence steps in, the more rigorously the file can be examined and the statement prepared. Call +34 91 078 65 74.

Property crimes (Arts. 234-304 CP) are the most frequent crime category in Spanish courts. Their regime has been deeply reformed by Organic Law 1/2026 on Multi-recidivism. Defense requires rigorous technical analysis of the commission mode, correct legal classification and pursuit of highly qualified mitigating factors.