Felony Child Prostitution, (2 Counts) Aggravated Luring a Minor for Sexual Exploitation & (4 Counts) Felony Luring a Minor for Sexual Exploitation Reduced to Solicitation to Commit Child Abuse with Probation and 120 Days in Jail with Work Furlough/Release – State v Mr. L (DMC No. 13100) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2014-160156):
Mr. L was on an internet chat room when he began conversations with a girl he believed to be 16 years old. In reality, a Chandler Detective was pretending to be the 16 year old. Mr. L was 42 years old at the time, and began having sexually explicit conversations with the undercover Detective. During those conversations, Mr. L admitted that he knew he could get in trouble because of her age and his age. He also asked for sexually explicit photographs from the Detective, and he allegedly sent pictures of his penis. They then made arrangements to meet at a gas station and he was asked if he could bring $75 dollars, some Mountain Dew and condoms to give to what he thought was a 16 year old girl. When he pulls up at the gas station he is immediately arrested and is found to have the $75 dollars, the condoms, Mountain Dew and the cell phones in which he was communicating with the Detective. When Mr. L was interviewed, he admitted to everything.
We were able to show that the photos found on the cell phones could not match as identifiers to link him directly to the photos. We also argued that the $75 dollars was not directly being used to pay her for sex, as they had already agreed to have sex prior to that conversation. We stated it could be construed that the money was merely a gift, along with the Mountain Dew. Ultimately, we were able to convince the prosecution to reduce the charges to Solicitation, and Mr. L was sentenced to Probation with 120 days in jail with work furlough/release. He was originally facing the possibility of 7 to 21 years in prison.