Lynwood Prostitution, East LA Court, PDP & Dismissal

Our client was returning home from work along Broadway Avenue in Lynwood.  He was heading northbound near 49th Street.  He had no record for soliciting a prostitute (Penal Code § 647(b)) and had no reason to seek a prostitute.  He was 24 years old and recently married.

In 50 Words or Less, What Happened?  Client proposes to have sex with undercover cop along Broadway Avenue in Lynwood; East L.A. Courthouse, case resolved for prostitution diversion program (PDP) and dismissal.

However, one woman walking along the sidewalk caught his eye and he pulled over to talk to her.  She was dressed in a black/brown striped miniskirt, a black and green colored top, black leggings and black boots.  To our client, she did not look like a prostitute.

In fact, she was not.  She was a vice cop, assigned to the area to curb what residents had described as rampant prostitute activity in the area.  Her every move was monitored by her two partners, eager to arrest anyone who even spoke to her.  The police officer wore a microphone that transmitted her every word back to the other police officers watching, as well as the sounds of anyone speaking to her.

Our client was one such person, perhaps one of a dozen who had done so that day or would do so.  He first asked her how she was doing and she bluntly replied, “what you want?”  This bluntness is common among hardened prostitutes and police decoys are instructed to follow this approach or a super-sweet approach, but no other method. 

Our client was shocked by the supposed prostitute’s direct question, but his response was equally clear: “a fuck and suck.”  Her response was “$40, meet me in the hotel, I already have a room.  Room 121.”  Our client then pulled into the parking lot of the motel and was promptly detained by Los Angeles Police Department Vice Unit Officers once he knocked on the door to Room 121 and entered.
While many prostitution cases involve ambiguous offers of sex in exchange for money or a failure of our client to take a substantial step towards consummating an exchange of money (or drugs) for sex, this case lacked such defenses.  All elements of the crime were met in the brief conversation between our client and the decoy (an agreement to exchange money for sex) and our client’s parking his car in the hotel parking lot (a substantial step in furtherance of the agreement) and then proceeding up to the designated room was a substantial step.

Our client was extremely embarrassed and worried about the consequences of his lapse of judgment.  He was quite worried about losing his job as well as the extreme disappointment his new wife would have in him.

He called up Greg Hill & Associates and discussed the case facts with Greg Hill.  After hearing the case facts, Greg commented that the main focus in this case, assuming the police report does not reveal anything other than what the client described, would be “damage control” and getting the client the best plea bargain possible.

East LA Courthouse