§ 32.22: Criminal Simulation

(a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to defraud or harm another:

(1) he makes or alters an object, in whole or in part, so that it appears to have value because of age, antiquity, rarity, source, or authorship that it does not have;

(2) he possesses an object so made or altered, with intent to sell, pass, or otherwise utter it; or

(3) he authenticates or certifies an object so made or altered as gen­uine or as different from what it is.

(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.

Tawfik v. State, 643 S.W.2d 127, 128 (Tex. Crim. App. 1982). “A special statute, extends to the forgery of ancient and modern works of art or rarity and to persons who sell, possess with intent to sell, or authenticate such forgeries with intent to defraud or harm another. It is much more specific than the theft statute with respect to the victim, the accused, and the means of theft.”

Steptoe v. State, 783 S.W.2d 9, 10 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1989, no pet.). “Although the criminal simulation prohibition proscribes the sale of objects altered under its terms,Éthis does not mean its “forbidden conduct” is acquisitive, as is the conduct which the theft statute prohibits. ‘[I]t is the guarantee of authenticity implicit in the act of selling that completes the offense, not the fact that something is obtained in return.’”

Comments

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, § 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.