The act of engaging in prostitution or the solicitation of a prostitute is a serious crime that carries with it grave consequences for everyone involved. Those consequences can include heavy fines and jail time, so it’s important that you reach out to a Florida defense attorney with experience in handling prostitution and solicitation cases the moment that you are arrested or held for questioning.
Failure to do so could result in valuable time lost investigating the facts of your case and fortifying your defense. The longer that you go without representation, the more likely it is that your rights will be vulnerable.
Prostitution Definition and Associated Charges
The legal definition of prostitution is the act of receiving or giving of sexual activity in exchange for money.
The specific criminal charges related to prostitution can be broken down into 8 separate acts:
- owning, leasing, or operating a building to facilitate prostitution;
- offering another individual for prostitution;
- offering a location for prostitution to occur;
- transporting someone to a place of prostitution;
- offering to engage in prostitution;
- soliciting another to commit prostitution;
- entering or staying in a place of prostitution; and
- hiring a person engaged in prostitution.
The severity of these crimes varies based on scope, the offender’s record, and a gamut of other factors, and charges can range from being a second degree misdemeanor all the way up to a first degree felony.
If you or someone that you know has been arrested for coercing, soliciting, or engaging in prostitution, contact a Florida defense attorney immediately. Consultations are free, and an attorney can even help friends and family members determine what to do next and how to manage posting bond in the event of incarceration. Reach out to a criminal defense law firm in South Florida today.
If you’ve been arrested for engaging, coercing, or soliciting prostitution, you may be facing some very grave criminal charges, and you should turn to a Florida defense attorney for help as soon as possible.
A lawyer has the knowledge, experience, and wherewithal to aid you by defending you from unlawful interrogations and by ensuring that none of your rights have been abridged in the course of your case’s investigation and your arrest.
Your Florida defense attorney can help you in a number of other ways, not least of which includes producing a defense strategy for your case.
In building your defense, your attorney will investigate the following:
- Was your initial contact with law enforcement legal?
- Were your rights sufficiently and properly explained during the arrest?
- Was the decoy officer the same person who wrote up the police report?
- If there was a wire or audio recording involved, was it recorded loudly enough, can the voices be confirmed, and has the quality and integrity of the tape been kept intact?
- Were you convinced to say or do something you wouldn’t normally do based on the behavior of the police officer?
These questions scrutinize the methodology of the police officers or other law enforcement agents who conducted the investigation and made your arrest. In some cases, police officers go outside the law as a means of enforcing it, but despite the frequency of such an abridgement, it should never be tolerated lightly.
The primary defense to the crime is to assert that the sexual contact was consensual, as opposed to being an economic exchange for pay.
Penalties for prostitution can include:
- prison sentences;
- probation;
- thousands of dollars in fines; and
- the embarrassing and haunting criminal record that will follow you for the rest of your life, including every time you interview for a job.
Contacting a Florida Defense Attorney
If you are facing criminal charges for engaging or soliciting prostitution, your legal team is your best defense. The defense team you choose to represent you in court, defend your rights, and relentlessly pursue your case could be the difference between jail time and getting on with your life. Contact a Florida defense attorney team at Falk & Ross to discuss your case – 1-877-663-5110.