Embarrassment too often prevents a defendant from fighting a charge of solicitation or prostitution in Santa Ana or elsewhere in Southern California.

Santa Ana Criminal Defense Attorney Houman Fakhimi and our Criminal Defense Team represent clients facing solicitation charges throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties. We encourage those facing such charges to seek a free legal consultation before pleading guilty or accepting a plea agreement.

These charges are often defensible and having a conviction on your criminal record can have all sorts of consequences – including job loss or the inability to obtain certain jobs or work in certain fields of employment.

Penal Code 647(b) makes it illegal to engage in sex acts for compensation or to solicit prostitution. Those convicted can face up to a year in jail as well as substantial fines and probation. However, the social costs of a solicitation conviction can include divorce, job loss and public ridicule.

And being required to register as a sex offender under California law (P.C. 290) can have a negative impact on your life for years to come.

• Solicitation charges require the prosecution to prove you solicited another person with the specific intent to engage in an act of prostitution.
• A prostitution charge requires the state to prove a defendant willfully engaged in an act of prostitution.
• Under California Penal Code 266h or 266i, the state’s pimping or pandering statute, a third-party may also face charges for arranging or participating in soliciting the agreement.

Standing on the street corner in a miniskirt, hailing traffic, or being in an area known for prostitution are all circumstances law enforcement may cite when making an arrest. However, such circumstances alone are not proof of prostitution. Likewise, the presence of condoms or cash may be used against a defendant but are not necessarily proof of a crime in the hands of an experienced Santa Ana criminal defense lawyer.

Those convicted of misdemeanor prostitution or solicitation in Orange County may be sentences to up to six months in jail and fined up to $1,000. A second conviction can result in a minimum 45 day jail sentence and a third conviction can result in a minimum of 90 days behind bars. You may also face a driver’s license suspension.

The judge also has discretion to order you to register as a sex offender. Failure to register as a sex offender when ordered to do so constitutes a separate felony offense.

Defense may include seeking a reduction in the charge (typically to trespass or disturbing the peace). In cases where an arrest was made as part of an undercover sting operation, an entrapment defense is also possible. Hiring a qualified Orange County defense lawyer will also permit you to challenge evidence in your case, as well as the testimony of law enforcement, witnesses or other evidence presented by the state.

If you are facing charges of prostitution or solicitation in Los Angeles, Santa Ana or Rancho Cucamonga, contact the Southern California Criminal Defense Team for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights.