2 Men Arrested for Solicitation of a Minor (CA Penal Code 647(b))

2 individuals have recently been arrested for allegedly having forced a young girl from Yuba County to become a prostitute. Reports claim that a couple (a 25-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman) met a 16-year-old girl at a shopping center in Sacramento County, eventually gained access to her home, stand accused of sexually assaulting the young woman and then sending her out to prostitute herself. While they were both charged with unlawful solicitation of a minor, each have also, respectively, been charged with unlawful intercourse with a minor and unlawful penetration with a foreign object.

California Penal Code 647(b) prohibits prostitution and solicitation. Any person who either actually participates in prostitution, agrees to have intimate relations with a prostitute, or offers to engage in acts of prostitution may be prosecuted under this law. Usually, a violation of this particular law is considered a misdemeanor, carrying with it a penalty of up to 6 months in county jail and a potential $1,000 fine.

Additionally, there are different penalties when it comes to California’s “Pimping” and “Pandering” laws. The two offenses are different (‘pimping’ is the illegal act of receiving money from a prostitute, while ‘pandering’ involves, among other things, recruiting or procuring another individual for the purposes of prostitution. Both of these offenses are felonies in California and could mean up to 6 years in state prison and a $10,000 fine. Penalties for pimping or pandering a minor raise a convicted person’s prison term to 8 years and require lifetime registration as a sex offender.