Arizona Felony Theft: Class Ladder, Prison Time, and Fines

In Arizona, felony theft begins at $1,000. Take property or services worth that much or more and the charge is a felony ranging from Class 6 up to Class 2, depending on value.¹ Firearms, vehicle engines, and transmissions are felonies regardless of what they are worth. A conviction can bring prison time, fines up to $150,000, mandatory restitution to the victim, and the loss of your right to vote, serve on a jury, and own a gun.

The $1,000 Threshold and the Felony Class Ladder

Under ARS 13-1802, theft means knowingly taking or using someone else’s property without permission and intending to keep it from them. It also covers converting property entrusted to you, obtaining property through lies, keeping lost or misdelivered property without trying to find the owner, and knowingly possessing stolen goods.¹

Anything under $1,000 is a Class 1 misdemeanor. At $1,000 the charge becomes a felony, and the class rises with the dollar amount:¹

Class 6 felony: $1,000 to under $2,000.
Class 5 felony: $2,000 to under $3,000.
Class 4 felony: $3,000 to under $4,000.
Class 3 felony: $4,000 to under $25,000.
Class 2 felony: $25,000 or more.

The jump from Class 3 to Class 2 is the sharpest one. A Class 3 covers a wide band from $4,000 to just under $25,000, but at $25,000 the presumptive prison term climbs from three and a half years to five.

Arizona also targets scrap metal theft specifically. Knowingly taking ferrous or nonferrous metal, possessing metal you know or should know is stolen, or buying stolen metal in the course of business all fall under the same statute.¹

A separate provision covers theft from vulnerable adults. If you are in a position of trust and take control of their property intending to deprive them, that is theft, and a court can infer intent from the fact that you gave nothing of equivalent value in return. The only defenses are that the transfer matched an established pattern from before the person became vulnerable, or that a court approved it in advance.¹

Property That Is a Felony No Matter the Value

Some categories skip the dollar threshold. Stealing a firearm worth less than $1,000 is still a Class 6 felony rather than a misdemeanor. Taking animals for the purpose of animal fighting is treated the same way.¹

Vehicle engines and transmissions get their own rule: stealing either one is automatically a Class 4 felony carrying a presumptive sentence of two and a half years, even if the part is worth far less than the $3,000 that would normally put a theft in that class.¹

Vehicle Theft Is Charged Under a Different Statute

Stealing a car, truck, motorcycle, or other means of transportation is not prosecuted under the general theft statute at all. Arizona handles it under ARS 13-1814, and the charge is a Class 3 felony with a presumptive sentence of three and a half years. Because the classification is based on the type of property rather than its price, a stolen $2,000 car is still a Class 3 felony, not a Class 5. The statute also criminalizes knowingly possessing a stolen vehicle, not just being the person who first took it.²

Shoplifting is also its own offense, prosecuted under ARS 13-1805 with slightly different thresholds and enhancements for repeat offenders or use of a booster device. If your case involves goods taken from a retailer, expect that statute rather than the general theft law to govern the charge.

Prison Time for a First Conviction

Arizona uses a range-with-a-presumptive-term structure for sentencing. The judge starts at the presumptive number and moves up or down only if the record supports specific aggravating or mitigating factors. For a first-time, non-dangerous offender, ARS 13-702 sets these ranges:³

Class 6 felony: 4 months to 2 years, presumptive 1 year.
Class 5 felony: 6 months to 2.5 years, presumptive 1.5 years.
Class 4 felony: 1 year to 3.75 years, presumptive 2.5 years.
Class 3 felony: 2 years to 8.75 years, presumptive 3.5 years.
Class 2 felony: 3 years to 12.5 years, presumptive 5 years.

The mitigated end requires the court to identify reasons a lesser sentence fits, such as the defendant’s age, mental health, or minor role. The aggravated end requires the opposite, including a particularly vulnerable victim, a breach of trust, or unusually large financial harm.

How Prior Convictions Change the Numbers

Priors are the single biggest lever on a sentence. ARS 13-703 sorts repeat offenders into three categories:⁴

Category one, one prior felony: ranges stay roughly the same as a first offense, with small bumps at the low end.
Category two, two prior felonies: ranges roughly double. A Class 2 felony carries a presumptive 9.25 years and a maximum of 23 years. A Class 6 felony carries a presumptive 1.75 years.
Category three, three or more prior felonies: ranges can triple. A Class 2 felony carries a presumptive 15.75 years and reaches 35 years. Even a Class 6 felony has a presumptive term of 3.75 years.

The practical effect: a second theft of $25,000 or more can put someone in prison for close to two decades, and a third can produce a sentence longer than many people serve for violent offenses.

Fines, Restitution, and the $100,000 Cutoff

A felony theft in Arizona carries a fine of up to $150,000.⁵ The cap is the same across all felony classes, though judges generally scale fines to the offense and the defendant’s ability to pay.

Restitution is mandatory. The court has to order you to repay the victim’s full economic loss.⁶ If you took $10,000 in goods and only $3,000 was recovered, you owe the remaining $7,000 on top of any fine and any prison time. Restitution orders function like civil judgments and survive bankruptcy.

When the court chooses probation, ARS 13-902 caps the term by felony class:⁷

Class 2 felony: up to 7 years.
Class 3 felony: up to 5 years.
Class 4 felony: up to 4 years.
Class 5 or 6 felony: up to 3 years.

Probation disappears entirely at $100,000. If the stolen property is worth that much or more, ARS 13-1802(H) bars a suspended sentence, probation, pardon, or early release until the full prison sentence is served or commuted.¹ Any theft over $25,000 is already a Class 2 felony, so someone crossing the $100,000 line faces a minimum of three years behind bars with no probation option.

When a Class 6 Can Become a Misdemeanor

A Class 6 felony theft is a “wobbler.” Under ARS 13-604, if a judge decides that a felony designation would be unduly harsh, the court can enter the conviction as a Class 1 misdemeanor at sentencing, or place the defendant on probation with the offense left undesignated.⁸

The undesignated route matters. If probation is completed successfully, the court must then designate the offense as a misdemeanor, converting the record. That difference affects employment, housing, and civil rights for the rest of your life. The wobbler option is off the table if you already have two or more prior felony convictions.⁸ Prosecutors can also file a borderline case as a misdemeanor from the outset, and that sometimes happens in plea deals for thefts near the $1,000 threshold.

Civil Rights and Gun Ownership

A felony theft conviction suspends your right to vote, hold public office, serve on a jury, and possess a firearm.⁹ For first-time felony offenders, Arizona automatically restores most of these rights once probation is finished or you are discharged from prison, provided all restitution has been paid.¹⁰

Firearms are the hardest right to get back. Federal law separately prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison from possessing a firearm.¹¹ Every Arizona felony class from 6 through 2 authorizes a sentence over one year, so any felony theft triggers the federal bar. That prohibition does not expire on its own.

Setting Aside the Conviction Later

Arizona does not offer traditional expungement, but ARS 13-905 lets you ask the court to set aside your judgment of guilt after you finish your sentence or probation. If granted, the court dismisses the original charges and releases you from most penalties tied to the conviction. There is no filing fee for the application.¹²

The judge weighs the nature of the offense, your compliance with the sentence, any prior or subsequent convictions, victim input, time elapsed, and your age at the time. A set-aside is not a clean slate. The conviction still shows on your criminal history with an annotation, and it can still be used as a prior to enhance sentencing in a future case. Set-asides are unavailable for dangerous offenses, sex offenses requiring registration, offenses with a finding of sexual motivation, and felonies where the victim was a child under fifteen.¹² Most ordinary theft convictions qualify.

How Long Prosecutors Have to File Charges

Under ARS 13-107, the state has seven years to bring felony theft charges. The clock starts when the offense is actually discovered or should have been discovered through reasonable diligence, whichever comes first. That discovery trigger extends the window in embezzlement and financial fraud cases where the theft can stay hidden for years. A Class 6 theft keeps the full seven-year period even if a court later designates the offense as a misdemeanor.¹³

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-1802 – Theft; Classification; Definitions
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-1814 – Theft of Means of Transportation; Affidavit; Classification
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-702 – First Time Felony Offenders; Sentencing; Definition
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-703 – Repetitive Offenders; Sentencing
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-801 – Fines for Felonies
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-603 – Restitution
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-902 – Periods of Probation; Monitoring; Fees
8
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-604 – Class 6 Felony; Designation
9
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-904 – Suspension of Civil Rights and Occupational Disabilities
10
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-907 – Automatic Restoration of Civil Rights for First Offenders; Firearm Rights
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
12
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-905 – Setting Aside Judgment of Convicted Person on Discharge; Application; Release From Disabilities
13
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-107 – Time Limitations