Los Angeles Online Solicitation of a Minor Attorney

Los Angeles Online Solicitation Of A Minor Lawyers

Call Experienced Sex Crimes Attorneys In Los Angeles, CA

Online solicitation often involves chat rooms, social media websites, and forums, and in some ways, users can be whoever they want to be on the internet. In some cases, people will use the web to seek potential sexual partners, but if the pursuit involves children, criminal charges can result. Local and federal law enforcement agencies have become zealous in their attempts to catch alleged child predators, and they have strengthened their efforts to find individuals they believe are soliciting adolescents and children.

What Are The Charges For Online Solicitation?

If you are arrested for using the internet to solicit a minor, you could be charged with various criminal offenses, such as:

• Penal Code 272 (b) (1): This crime involves a stranger over the age of 21 who knowingly communicates with or contacts a child under the age of 14 years old for the purpose or with the intention to lure, persuade, or transport the minor away from their home or any location where the child’s guardians parents expect them to be. This misdemeanor offense is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and by incarceration in a county jail for up to one year.
• Penal Code 288.2: This crime is charged against a person that knows that another person is a minor and knowingly distributes, sends, causes to be sent, offers to distribute, or exhibits any type of harmful matter to that minor with the intention of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust or sexual desires of the offender or the child for the purpose of seducing the minor. This is a public offense and is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison or county jail.
• Penal Code 288.3 (a): This offense is charged against a person who communicates with or contacts a minor or attempts to contact a minor with the intent to commit certain crimes that are punishable by imprisonment.
• Penal Code 288.4 (a) (1): A person can be charged with this crime if, motivated by their abnormal or unnatural sexual interest in children, they arrange to meet with a minor or an individual they believe is a child with the intention of exposing their genitals or other personal areas to the child, having the child expose their genitals or other personal areas, or to engage in lascivious or lewd behavior with the minor. This offense is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year and fined up to $5,000.

Fight Your Charges: Contact Okabe & Haushalter!

Prosecutors seek some of the harshest penalties when the defendant is charged with a crime involving a child, which is why you need to enlist powerful defense for your trial. Our firm has effectively represented countless clients charged with internet sex crimes, and we understand the intricacies of the law. You can be confident that we will ensure your rights are protected.

We will thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to your arrest to determine if your charges were based on such unlawful police tactics as entrapment, which would require us to prove that you would not have committed the solicitation if it were not for the threats, harassment, or coercion of an officer posing as a minor. This defense involves showing through the preponderance of the evidence that more likely than not the officer’s conduct would have most likely persuaded a normal and law-abiding citizen to commit the same offense.

Our skilled lawyers at Okabe & Haushalter have fought for clients in similar situations throughout the Los Angeles area, and we are ready to provide the aggressive advocacy and relentless defense necessary to challenge the allegations brought against you. A conviction for this offense will severely impact your life and freedoms, which is why you cannot risk your case in the hands of a public defender. Call our team today to retain the unyielding and smart representation you deserve!