Matter of Jurado-Delgado, 24 I. & N. Dec. 29 (BIA Sept. 28, 2006) (Pennsylvania conviction of retail theft in violation of title 18, 3929(a)(1) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, is a crime involving moral turpitude, even though there is no element requiring specific intent permanently to deprive the owner of the property, because the BIA found it reasonable to assume that the taking is with the intent to retain the merchandise permanently where the elements of the conviction require taking merchandise offered for sale by a store without paying for it and with the intention of depriving the owner of the goods).



This decision is erroneous, since this statute is not divisible, as it does not contain more than one set of elements, and therefore the BIA should follow the minimum conduct rule. It did not do so in this case. Because the statute of conviction allows conviction even if the intent is only temporarily to deprive the owner of the property, minimum conduct required to sustain a conviction does not involve moral turpitude. Therefore, under the proper analysis, a conviction of violating this statute is not a CMT.