It's a nuanced distinction between prostitution and solicitation of prostitution.  Solicitation involves offering money for a sexual act.  Once the offer is made and accepted, the crime of solicitation is complete, even if no sexual act occurs.  So, if someone proposes a sexual act for $50.00 and you agree, you could be charged with solicitation of prostitution, as could the other party. California Penal Code 647(b) covers prostitution charges. However, there are legal defenses that can be explored—prostitution and solicitation of prostitution. 

Obviously, solicitation has to do with somebody offering money for some sort of sexual act.  Once the offer is made and accepted, the crime of solicitation has been completed, even if the parties don't engage in any type of sexual act.  So, if somebody says to you, I'll do something sexually, all you have to do is pay me $50.00, and you agree, then you can be charged and conviction of solicitation of prostitution, as can the other person as well. California Penal Code 647(b) covers prostitution charges.

Where prostitution comes in is if somebody actually does the solicitation and the act is accomplished, then you have a prostitution situation that can be charged against the party, who is the prostitute who agrees to engage in a sexual act and does engage in a sexual act with another person.

The police and prosecutors have really become the moral police to a degree where they're actually going out and seeking those individuals who are involved in sex for money and either setting things up to lure people in or going where they believe that prostitution is taking place, posting as a john and trying to arrest anybody involved.

A perfect classic example where they're actually going out of their way to be able to catch people in prostitution or solicitation of prostitution is the Robert Kraft situation, where they actually go into a business under a ruse that there's some sort of a bomb scare.

They then put video cameras in that business, believing that that business is engaging in some sort of prostitution activity. They film for some time, and then they pull people over as they come out of the location, and eventually, they review the video and arrest a bunch of people.

Fourth Amendment Rights

The problem is that they're also capturing innocent people on the video who are just going in for a massage, which is a violation of everyone's Fourth Amendment rights. We do not want this, and this is the reason Robert Kraft's defense team was able to overturn that case and suppress all of the evidence.

It's being appealed right now by the prosecutors. Still, the argument the judge agreed to was that, number one, you have to have some sort of mechanism in that scenario where you're putting cameras in to not look at the people who are lawfully going in for a massage.

I need to see how they can set that mechanism up.  This is not Big Brother — George Orwell — where you're putting cameras everywhere to watch people.  People are behind closed doors where nobody else can see.  The police should not be in there.  That's the bottom line.

The second issue was that they were just pulling people over indiscriminately.  They were just making up traffic violations.  It was so stupid because they were videotaping or audio recording the pullovers.  You can hear them just making stuff up as they go along, trying to embarrass people and really had no reason to be pulling the people over after they arrest the massage location.

This is an example of the government gone wild, where they're just doing what they want to do. It's very troubling that a judge signed off on this warrant allowing them to put these cameras in private locations.

But this is what you have to be on the lookout for, and this is where criminal defense attorneys have to be on the lookout to be able to challenge these situations where prosecutors and law enforcement officers are going crazy and putting cameras in private locations where people are going.  But that's how law enforcement is trying to catch people who are involved in prostitution and solicitation of prostitution.

Diversion Program to Avoid a Prostitution Conviction

That's the bad news. The good news is that a lot of these cases now—especially if it's a first offense—were able to get some sort of a diversion program in Los Angeles. A diversion program is a court-ordered program that allows a person to avoid a criminal record by completing certain requirements, such as community service or counseling. If the person can complete the program and not have any new arrests, they can get the case dismissed, and a lot of times, they even try to get their record sealed under the right circumstances.

So, the pendulum has at least shifted in that regard where there are circumstances where people can be protected against this horrible crime on your record of solicitation of prostitution or prostitution that when you go for a job interview, people can pull that up if they have the right investigative agency. Suppose you complete a diversion program or meet other specific requirements. In that case, you may be eligible to have your record sealed, which means that the record of your arrest and conviction would not be accessible to the public.

Obviously, you don't want this, so you'll want to try to either get the case dismissed if the police violated your rights or at least get a diversion program, which is available. In many of the courts in Los Angeles County, there are certain requirements that you have to meet in order to get this diversion program.

It's crucial to hire an attorney and take every possible step to get the case dismissed or explore the possibility of getting your record sealed. This support and guidance can help minimize the potential damages that can result from being charged and convicted of prostitution or solicitation of prostitution.