What term describes a person who buys or sells stolen merchandise?

• A. Amateur thieves
• B. Art theft
• C. Fence
• D. Professional thieves

Answer: (C)

The concept tested is the term for a person who handles stolen goods after they’re taken—someone who buys and sells those items to move them back into circulation. That person is a fence. A fence acts as a middleman, purchasing stolen property from thieves and then selling it to others, typically to covertly convert loot into cash and avoid detection. This role is specific: it identifies the intermediary who disposes of the stolen merchandise, rather than the thief themselves or the crime category.

Why this fits best: it directly names the individual whose function is to receive and re-sell stolen items, which is exactly what a fence does. The other terms describe the thieves (amateur or professional) or describe the crime type (art theft), not the person who handles the disposition of stolen goods. In law and investigations, fences are the familiar term for the middleman who fences stolen property.