A criminal charge of soliciting a prostitute is a difficult and often embarrassing charge. If you find yourself arrested for soliciting sex, you need this problem fixed carefully and discreetly.
These busts usually happen through online sting operations, or sometimes report of suspicious activity from hotel guests, neighbors, or informants.
Whatever happened, it’s a difficult situation. I understand what you are going through, and I can help you fix this legal problem.
Our firm has represented clients on many extremely sensitive and embarrassing criminal matters.
As your defense attorney, it is my job to represent you and your interests and protect your rights and privacy as much as is possible.
July 2017
Woburn District Court
Dismissed for court costs.
No Record.
January 2017
Westborough District Court
3 Month Continuance (CWOF)
Record Sealed Immediately
After Continuance Ended.
Defending a Sex for a Fee Criminal Charge (and clearing your record)
I will review your case and work to find any possible defenses:
- Can they prove that you absolutely intended to pay for or solicit sex?
- Were you enticed, mislead, or entrapped?
- Or were you simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?
I will also treat you with the utmost courtesy and privacy, and work to dispatch your case as quickly and quietly as is possible, to protect your rights in every way I can.
I will make every possible effort to help you avoid a criminal record, as well as do what we can to make sure your wife, your co-workers, or others don’t find out about this charge.
In addition, we can help you get your record sealed after a continuance period if a short CWOF is the best deal we can work out.
In many cases, we can successfully petition the judge to seal the record immediately after a continuance period and dismissal (3-6 months). After a successful seal, the arrest incident will not appear on a CORI, so your job opportunities, as well as school or community volunteering or other activities would not be curtailed.
Massachusetts police aggressively run prostitution stings and targeting Johns with online ads
Prostitution stings are a priority with the Attorney General Maura Healey’s office in their efforts to reduce demand for anyone who might be a victim of human trafficking.
We have received quite a few calls from people busted by police stings after answering an ad on Backpage.com that turned out to be a law enforcement trap.
Our client responded to an ad and met a woman at a hotel room, who turned out to be an undercover police officer. There was lingerie laid out on the bed that made it look normal. He handed the woman cash for a massage, and then several police officers entered the room and handcuffed him, and placed him under arrest.
He was charged with soliciting sex for a fee. In other cases where the individual touched the woman, they were also charged with indecent assault and battery.
Did you get a subpoena or are caught up in a human trafficking investigation?
If you are charged with engaging in sexual conduct with someone whom law enforcement claims is being trafficked, you may be subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.
Law enforcement and the AG’s office are trying to make these cases and will try to force testimony from people charged with these offenses, even if you have no knowledge of any such operations.
They may threaten you with more serious charged if you don’t talk to police or testify before a grand jury.
This is a scary situation, as well as being potentially very embarrassing. You don’t want people to know that you were at all involved as an alleged customer in the sex trade, even in a victimless crime.
Please call us for help to protect you in this kind of investigation. It can be extremely helpful to have an attorney present during questioning to keep the police honest and reduce the chance they will threaten you unfairly or illegally.
This law under Section 53A applies to either party in a sex for a fee transaction – either the “John” or the prostitute.
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If you agree to engage in sex for a fee, even if no sex occurs, the penalties are:
- Up to 1 year in Jail
- Fines of up to $500
However, if you agree to pay another person to engage in sexual conduct, whether or not sex occurs, the penalties under Sec 53B are:
- Up to 2 1/2 years in Jail
- Fines of $1000-$5000
This is a slightly tougher law aimed at Johns.
Ref Mass Gen. Laws Ch. 272 Sec. 53a
Penalties for Soliciting Prostitution
The penalties for simply soliciting a prostitute, whether or not any sexual activity actually takes place, are less than those for actually engaging in sex for a fee:
- Up to 1 year in Jail
- Fines up to $500
Ref: MGL c.272 §8
Operating a Prostitution Business in Your Home, or Keeping a House of Ill Fame
Police regularly conduct sting operations to try to catch those operating and profiting from a business that provides sexual acts for a fee.
Advertising a home massage business on websites like Backpage, Craigslist, Cityvibe, MyProviderGuide and many others may be considered suspicious and attract undercover police officers to investigate. If you are accused of offering any allegedly illegal sex act during the course of your service, the police will charge that offense.
Deriving Support, Purveying, Sharing Earnings of a Prostitute (AKA “Pimping”)
If you are suspected of conducting a business that profits from prostitution or human trafficking, you will be targeted aggressively by the police. Attorney General Maura Healey is engaging in an aggressive campaign to target businesses like massage parlors and escort service agencies that offer sexual services.
To gain earnings from prostitution is a felony offense under Mass General Laws Chapter 272 Section 7.
To convict you of this offense, the state must prove that you had knowledge that the person was earning money as a prostitute, and you were deriving income or received money from that activity.
The penalties for this charge, if convicted, are:
- Up to 5 years in state prison
- Fines up to $5000
- Minimum penalty of 2 years served
Ref: MGL Ch 272 Sec 7
Human Trafficking and Sexual Servitude
Human trafficking and sexual servitude are the strictest prostitution-related crimes in the state. Any evidence of coercion, control, dependence, supplying drugs, housing, or other services as part of an operation that provided sex for a fee can lead to this serious felony charge.
Penalties for human trafficking and sexual servitude are:
- five years in prison
- fine of up to $25,000
Recent cases include multiple massage parlor busts across Massachusetts and the takedown of a local escort service.
Ref: MGL Ch 265 Sec 50
For more info on legal defenses, contact me today for a confidential legal consultation. We can help.