West Virginia Code Chapter 17A. Motor Vehicle Administration, Registration, Certificate of Title and Antitheft Provisions § 17A-9-2. Operation of vehicles without evidences of registration; use of temporary facsimile; penalty

(a) No person shall operate, nor shall an owner knowingly permit to be operated, upon any highway any vehicle required to be registered under this article unless there shall be attached thereto and displayed thereon or shall be in the possession of the operator when and as required by this chapter a valid registration card and registration plate or plates issued therefor by the department for the current registration year, except as otherwise expressly permitted in this chapter.

(b) In the event that the registration plate or plates originally issued are lost, destroyed or stolen, a temporary facsimile of the plate or plates, showing the number of the same, may be attached to the vehicle by the owner for a period of not more than fifteen days, or until a new plate or plates are issued by the department, whichever is earlier: Provided, That no such facsimile shall be used and no such vehicle shall be driven upon the highways of this state, until the owner shall have notified in writing the West Virginia state police of the loss of such registration plate or plates.

(c) Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars; and upon a second or subsequent conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or confined in the county or regional jail not more than six months, or both.