Prostitution, Solicitation and Deriving Support From Prostitution

Miami police and prosecutors are under intense pressure to make arrests and get convictions in Prostitution related offenses. A week doesn’t go by in Miami without police doing undercover “stings”, often using websites like backpage.com to make arrangements for their arrests, either posing as prostitutes themselves or as johns.

If you have been arrested for Solicitation or Prostitution in Miami, it’s important that you call Grant Dwyer, a Miami criminal defense lawyer, at once.

Under Florida Law, What is Solicitation for Prostitution?

Solicitation is the encouraging, bribing, requesting, or ordering a person to commit Prostitution. It is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. It is not necessary for the state to prove that you actually exchanged any money, nor is it necessary that any sex act actually happened.

Florida Statute 796.07(2)(i) deals with Solicitation for Prostitution.

There are many defenses available to you under this law, if you act quickly. Typically it is only a matter of days between when you are arrested and when the State Attorney’s Office decides to officially charge you. During this time the prosecutors hold what they call “Pre File Conferences” with the police. At these meetings the police will turn over whatever evidence they have and give the prosecutors their side of the story. If you act quickly, your lawyer can speak with the prosecutors first.

It’s possible this was a misunderstanding. It’s possible you never intended to engage in prostitution. It’s possible you believed this was not going to be sexual, or that if it was, you were not going to be paid for anything sexual. Often times it is your word against the police officers, and in the right lawyer’s hands, that is reasonable doubt.

What is Deriving Support From Prostitution?

Florida law is unbelievably vague when it comes to this crime. We have seen boyfriends, family members, and even husbands arrested when the police believe that they benefit at all from a prostitute’s income.

While prostitution itself is a misdemeanor, deriving support is a felony and punishable by up to five years in state prison.

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