594.38.
A person is guilty of a crime and punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment, who maliciously does any of the following:(a) Receives, retains, or disposes of a grave marker or other structure designed to commemorate the grave of a veteran, peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, firefighter, as defined in Section 3251 of the Government Code, or other first responder, which the person knows or should reasonably know to be stolen, unless the intent is to return the stolen marker to a cemetery, a member of law enforcement, a member of the Department of Veterans Affairs or a nonprofit veterans’ services group, a veteran’s agent of a town or court, or to a person who disposes of veterans’ grave marker or other structures or things in a like manner.
(b) Damages, defaces, destroys, mutilates, or removes an American flag, veteran’s grave marker, metal plaque, veteran’s commemorative flag holder, or commemorative flag holder representing service in both the police and fire department, from the grave of a veteran, peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, firefighter, as defined in Section 3251 of the Government code, or other first responder.
(c) Damages, defaces, destroys, mutilates, or removes any object or structure set to memorialize a veteran, peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, firefighter, as defined in Section 3251 of the Government Code, or other first responder.