IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING AREAS
PALM BEACH COUNTY, MARTIN COUNTY, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY,
VERO BEACH, STUART, JUPITER, SEBASTIAN
Scores of South and Central Florida citizens are being arrested for “Solicitation for Prostitution” and related offenses resulting from a Federal and State investigation lasting eight (8) months.
Law enforcement agencies focused on ‘Day Spas’ specializing in massages located in Vero Beach, Sebastian, Jupiter, Stuart, Hobe Sound and West Palm Beach.
Solicitation is a criminal offense, exposing those charged with jail time, fines, and probation.
In Florida, a criminal conviction can never be sealed or expunged.
The “discovery” process (gathering evidence of police procedures used in these cases) is in its infancy, and it is unclear whether basic, fundamental constitutional and statutory rules and laws were used by the police in obtaining these warrants, which are reported to be in the hundreds.
There exist a myriad of defenses to the crime of solicitation, including determining there existed no actual “agreement” to exchange money for sexual services. If both parties did not actually agree to the exchange of money for sex acts, then the criminal charge of solicitation must fail.
Similarly, entrapment may be a defense to a ‘solicitation’ charge. Entrapment occurs when the police take an overly active, aggressive position encouraging or persuading a citizen to engage in a sex act for remuneration.
Some of these cases involved warrants, signed by judge, to install SURVEILLANCE equipment, without the permission of the owner of the premises. There exist stringent requirements for a Judge to issue these “surreptitious entry” warrants, and if the police fail to scrupulously abide by those requirements, may result in all of the evidence procured as a result of the warrant being excluded (“thrown out”) of the case—-making it impossible for the government to successfully prosecute.
Jonathan Jay Kirschner, Esq., a Florida Supreme Court Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer, is rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, the nation’s oldest and most respected lawyer rating service, and has the “highest possible rating in Both Legal Ability and Ethical Standards.”
Kirschner & McEnery Law, Chartered routinely practices in Martin, Indian River, and Palm Beach Counties, and has been doing so for in excess of twenty (20) years.