Section 165.00. Misapplication of property

1.  A  person  is guilty of misapplication of property when, knowingly
  possessing personal property of another pursuant to  an  agreement  that
  the same will be returned to the owner at a future time,
    (a)  he  loans,  leases,  pledges,  pawns  or otherwise encumbers such
  property without the consent of the owner thereof in such manner  as  to
  create  a  risk  that  the  owner will not be able to recover it or will
  suffer pecuniary loss; or
    (b) he intentionally refuses to return  personal  property  valued  in
  excess  of one hundred dollars to the owner pursuant to the terms of the
  rental agreement provided that the  owner  shall  have  made  a  written
  demand  for  the  return  of  such  personal  property  in  person or by
  certified mail at an address indicated in the rental  agreement  and  he
  intentionally  refuses  to return such personal property for a period of
  thirty days after such demand has been  received  or  should  reasonably
  have been received by him. Such written demand shall state: (i) the date
  and  time at which the personal property was to have been returned under
  the rental agreement; (ii) that  the  owner  does  not  consent  to  the
  continued withholding or retaining of such personal property and demands
  its return; and (iii) that the continued withholding or retaining of the
  property may constitute a class A misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up
  to one thousand dollars or by a sentence to a term of imprisonment for a
  period of up to one year or by both such fine and imprisonment.
    (c)  as  used  in paragraph (b) of this subdivision and in subdivision
  three of this section, the terms owner, personal  property,  and  rental
  agreement  shall  be  defined  as  in  subdivision  one of section three
  hundred ninety-nine-w of the general business law.
    2. In any prosecution under paragraph (a) of subdivision one  of  this
  section,  it  is  a  defense  that,  at  the  time  the  prosecution was
  commenced, (a) the defendant had recovered possession of  the  property,
  unencumbered  as a result of the unlawful disposition, and (b) the owner
  had suffered no material economic loss  as  a  result  of  the  unlawful
  disposition.
    3.  In  any prosecution under paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this
  section, it is a defense that at the time the prosecution was commenced,
  (a) the owner had recovered possession  of  the  personal  property  and
  suffered  no  material  economic  loss  as  a  result  of  the  unlawful
  retention; or (b) the  defendant  is  unable  to  return  such  personal
  property  because  it  has been accidentally destroyed or stolen; or (c)
  the owner failed to comply with the provisions of section three  hundred
  ninety-nine-w of the general business law.
    Misapplication of property is a class A misdemeanor.