Thursday, July 24, 2008

Get more than you bargained for?!? Patronizing Prostitution or Solicititing a Police Decoy

Get more than you bargained for?? Patronizing a police decoy or Solicitation of a police decoy.

You are lonely, feeling no one understands you, especially your wife or girlfriend. You may be angry at them or feel they are too busy to give you any of the attention you feel you need or deserve. Or you are single and just plain feeling lustful and want an outlet. You don’t want to invest the time and money in dating someone and not be sure you will find your outlet.

You come across an advertisement for some “personal service” in a local “underground” newspaper or online and you think “What the heck”!! You call the number. The person on the other end of the line sounds nice and willing to spend sometime with you, albeit for a price.

They explain what services they provide including not very veiled descriptions as “full service” or “a Monica Lewinsky”. They tell you what it will cost; you make an appointment and give you an address and a number to call when you get in the neighborhood. The excitement of the idea of following through and going to keep the appointment outweighs your better judgment.

You rationalize it with something like: No one will know, and it’s just the one time. Or I won’t do anything when I get there.

You go to the meeting place and talk to the person you talked to on the phone. They tell you again the prices and you say Ok, (you may even intend to say I have to go to my car and get the money and not return). You may or may not even get to the part where you take out your money. The other person then says excuse me I have to go to the bathroom, or change and tell you to get comfortable. They leave and as your excitement starts to build BOOM in a rush several police officers explode into the room. You are informed you are being charged with Patronizing Prostitution. Your potential stress relieving partner was really a police officer.

Other times you may merely be driving down the street and you get waved over, or you may be stopped at a stop sign and someone leans in threw a rolled down window and offers a sex act for a price.

The police, in recent times, have discovered that they have a very hard time combating prostitution. Instead of going after the prostitutes, particularly in Kansas City, Missouri area, the police are now going after the people who do business with the prostitutes.

In other words, they go after the customers, or in slang terms, the "Johns". It's not uncommon for someone to report that they merely stopped to talk or went to meet to talk, never offered to have sex for money, and were arrested for patronizing prostitution; soliciting a prostitute.

The City ordinance in Kansas City was expanded a number of years ago to require merely that there be an assent to have sex in exchange for something of value. It matters not who names the sex act or the price.
http://www.municode.com/RESOURCES/gateway.asp?pid=10156&sid=25
If a prostitute solicits you, the only thing you should do, is say "no" and walk away. If you engage them in any conversation at all, you will likely be arrested.

Entrapment is no defense where all law enforcement does is provide the means for someone otherwise disposed to break the law to do so.
Whether you meant to solicit a prostitute's services, or not, you need a good criminal defense attorney. A good attorney, in many instances, can probably keep this sexually related crime violation off your record.

What you have to understand is that once you are charged with soliciting a police decoy, you have in fact been charged with a sexually related crime.

Nobody wants his employer, any prospective employer, or anybody else that has access to your police records to know that you have been convicted of a sexually related crime. This is something you should go out of your way to keep that off your record.

Contacting a lawyer who regularly practices handling these kinds of cases may help you accomplish this.

No comments: