Criminal Lawyers in Receiving Stolen Goods

The crime of receiving stolen goods in its basic modality is regulated in Art. 298.1 of the Spanish Criminal Code and punishes whoever, with profit motive and knowing the commission of a previous crime against patrimony or socioeconomic order, acquires, possesses for use, transmits or helps transmit goods from such crime. The protected legal interest is plural: on one hand, the patrimony of the antecedent crime's victim, since receiving perpetuates the unlawful patrimonial displacement and hinders restitution; on the other, the Administration of Justice, given that the receiver operates as a closing element of the criminal circuit and hinders the pursuit of the main author. Supreme Court case-law has consolidated that receiving is an autonomous crime, of accessory character relative to the antecedent act, requiring the effective commission of a prior crime against patrimony or socioeconomic order, although the main author's conviction is not required.

Commission Modalities

The basic type of Art. 298.1 CP describes various commission modalities that the legislator equates in gravity. Acquisition, which includes sale-purchase, exchange, donation or any translative title, is the most frequent modality and covers from the purchase of a stolen phone to the acquisition of jewellery, vehicles, tools or computer material of unlawful origin. Possession for use punishes whoever retains the property destined for personal or professional use, even without having formally acquired it; this case includes, for example, the private individual who uses a stolen motorbike lent by a third party. Transmission or aid to transmit includes brokerage, facilitation of sales channels and collaboration with the antecedent crime's authors to dispose of stolen effects. Alongside the basic type, Arts. 299 to 304 CP regulate special modalities: receiving of minor offences (suppressed after LO 1/2015), receiving of goods from crimes against intellectual or industrial property, and habitual or professional receiving.

Penalties and Liability

The penalties foreseen for the basic type are six months to two years' prison, except when the antecedent crime is punished with a lower penalty, in which case it operates as a ceiling (Art. 298.3 CP). If the receiver acts habitually or professionally trades in stolen objects, the penalty is imposed in its upper half and, additionally, a special disqualification for the exercise of office or commerce of up to five years is applied (Art. 298.2 CP in relation to professionals). Art. 299 CP, when there is exploitation of the crime's product by a person habitually engaged in commerce, raises the penalty. Together with these, the confiscation of the received property per Art. 127 CP must be added, its restitution to the original owner and the ex delicto civil liability, comprising the property's value and derived damages, including blocking accounts costs, lock changes or reactivation of telematic services. The conviction also generates full criminal record, susceptible to operating as a recidivism aggravator in future proceedings.

Defence Strategy

Technical defence in receiving cases is structured around four recurring axes the firm applies case by case. The first is challenging intent or knowledge of unlawful origin: receiving requires the subject to know or have founded suspicion that the property comes from a crime; when acquisition is made at market price, with invoice, on regulated platforms (Wallapop or Vibbo with verified profiles) or in professional establishments with seller identification, the presumption of good faith is very solid and shifts the burden to prosecution. Supreme Court case-law admits eventual intent when objective indications concur —abnormally low price, suspicious seller, erased serial number, no invoice, irregular sale location—, but requires such indications to be sufficient to ground a rational suspicion. The second axis is denial of the antecedent crime: if the existence of the previous crime is not proven, receiving becomes atypical. The third axis is prescription: being a less serious crime, it prescribes in five years from consummation, period operating with interruptions due to investigative acts. The fourth axis is the damage-repair mitigation of Art. 21.5 CP, particularly effective when the property is restored before trial and collaboration with the investigation is provided to identify the antecedent crime's author.

Current Forensic Practice

In current forensic practice we observe sustained growth in receiving proceedings derived from massive use of peer-to-peer trading platforms (Wallapop, Vinted, Milanuncios, Catawiki) and the expansion of digital commerce. Heritage Brigades of the National Police and Economic Crime Teams of the Civil Guard cross-reference databases of stolen items with online publications, multiplying imputations to apparently innocent buyers. Typical cases include the acquisition of mobile phones, bicycles, professional tools, electronics and jewellery; in the business sphere, proceedings for receiving computer material, machinery and industrial vehicles have increased in sectors such as construction and logistics. Law 10/2010 on Money Laundering Prevention and Law 7/2012 have tightened identification and registration obligations in particularly exposed sectors (gold dealers, pawnshops, scrap yards). At Alonso Sala we combine 15+ years of experience in criminal defence with rigorous analysis of objective indications of each operation, articulating strategies tailored to the client's profile —from the deceived occasional buyer to the professional accused of habituality— aiming to exclude intent, reduce the penalty or reach favourable settlements preserving the criminal record.