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Contacting or Arranging to Meet Minor for Sex Offense

California Penal Code Section 288.4

What does California Criminal Law say about arranging to meet a minor?

It is a crime for any person, motivated by an unnatural or abnormal sexual interest in children, to arrange a meeting with a minor (or a person he or she believes to be a minor) for the purpose of exposing his or her genitals or pubic or rectal area, having the minor (or person believed to be a minor) expose his or her genitals or pubic or rectal area, or engaging in lewd or lascivious behavior.

The crime is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000, by imprisonment in the LA or Orange County Jail not exceeding one year, or by both the fine and imprisonment.

However, if the person actually went to the arranged meeting place at or about the arranged time, the offense is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the California State Prison for 2, 3, or 4 years.

Criminal Lawyers in California

What does it mean to "contact" a minor?

If a person contacts or communicates with a minor, or attempts to contact or communicate with a minor, with intent to commit any of certain sex offenses involving the minor, and if the person knows or reasonably should know that the target of the communication is a minor, the person has committed an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.

"Contacts or communicates with" includes direct and indirect contact or communication that may be achieved personally or by use of an agent such as a friend, any print medium such as posting an ad in the Los Angeles Times or the LA Weekly, any postal service, communication common carrier such as UPS, Fed Ex and US Postal Service, any e-mail system, or any telecommunications company including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, wire, computers including HP or Apple, or radio communications device or system.

If you or someone you know is facing this type of sexual allegation, you need to contact the Los Angeles Criminal Lawyers with over 80 years of combined experience to defend you -- Gold, Leftwich & Wagner - The Criminal Defense Strikeforce.