Penal Code 315 PC - House of Prostitution
This is a situation where an individual or a group of individuals keeps a house, and the house's primary purpose is for prostitution activities. To prove this case, the government will have to show that the house was being used as a house for prostitution, number one.
And number two, any defendant charged with this particular crime will have to be shown to know and be involved with the house being kept for prostitution. This sex crime is described under California Penal Code 315.
Examples of Prostitution Activity
Examples of this would be the individual involved in paying the rent for the house knowing it was being used for prostitution, collecting proceeds from the prostitution activities, set up the prostitution activity inside the house. This is a serious crime.
It's important to note that this charge is not common. It often surfaces when individuals are facing more serious offenses, such as pimping and pandering, which carries a 3-year mandatory minimum. In such cases, the attorney can negotiate a lesser charge under Penal Code Section 315 – keeping a house for prostitution purposes, to avoid the more severe consequences.
The government doesn't prosecute this charge frequently. It's usually when individuals get greedy, mixing prostitution with other illicit activities like gambling and drugs, that it becomes a target. This selective prosecution is a part of the legal system's efforts to maintain order and safety.
Maybe they're stupid enough to do it in the neighborhood, the neighbors see it, they become angry about it, they call the police, and the police either send somebody in there to surveil it.
The process of gathering evidence is thorough and fair. Undercover operations are conducted to gather evidence, and surveillance is used to monitor the activities. This ensures that the evidence is solid before any arrests are made.
Ultimately, they might even get a search warrant for the house — go in and try and corroborate their suspicions that this house is being run for prostitution. A related crime is Penal Code 266h and 266i PC pimping and pandering.
Retain an Experienced Criminal Defense Lawyer
So, suppose you have one of these convictions. In that case, you want to get a criminal defense attorney because some of the ramifications that could flow from any sex crime have to do with registering as a sex offender, jail time, prison time, and all sorts of different bad things that the police and prosecutors can level against you if you get convicted of this particular crime.
So, what I have you do is come in. You give me all the background. We're going to try to look for angles — either to get you out of it by asserting a defense, like maybe you didn't know. You had no idea what was going on; even though you might have been involved with the house somehow, you had no idea exactly what the activities were going on within the home.
So, the critical thing is that you have to know and be a part of it. If you don't know and you're not a part of it, then obviously, you're not going to be in a position where you're going to take a conviction for this particular crime. So, come in, sit down, we'll go over everything. We'll see what the best angle is. Whether it's an angle to try to win the whole thing or whether we're trying to negotiate a plea bargain for you with one of the prosecutors. Contact the Hedding Law Firm for help.