What are the Consequences of Arranging a Meeting With a Minor to Commit a Lewd Act – Penal Code Section 288.4? This is a common crime that I see a lot. Often, what ends up happening is the person arranging the meeting with the minor doesn't realize that they're not setting an appointment with a child. It's an undercover police officer posing as a minor.
So, that ends up causing them to get charged with some pretty serious charges. Under Penal Code Section 288.4, the person is looking at the prison, lifetime sex registration.
Anything involving a minor related to a type of sex crime will come with some severe consequences, so obviously, you want to make sure that if you're charged with this offense, you get the best attorney possible.
If your loved one is charged with this type of offense, you should make sure that you pick up the phone and make the call. I stand at the ready to help your loved one.
Arranging Meeting Through Chat Rooms
Another area that I see this charge — arranging a meeting with a child — is someone finds somebody in a chat room — either 15, 16, 17-year-old or even younger sometimes, arranges a meeting with that person.
It's an actual person, and somehow the meeting gets intercepted. In other words, maybe their family members find their phone and see that the younger person is meeting with a stranger, call the police, and then the individual gets arrested.
Or, sometimes, after the fact, they figure out that you've arranged to meet with a minor, and then you're arrested and charged with a violation of Penal Code Section 288.4, so this can manifest itself in a lot of different ways.
I've also seen the child under the age of 18 get the police involved because they somehow become angry at the person concerned and end up contacting the police, telling their parents, or telling somebody at school.
That's another way I see these cases manifest themselves. In other words, the individual is going to a school council and telling that school counsel that something has happened to them. Now that person must report the crime; they call the police out.
Examination at Hospital
The last place I see this arranging a meeting to commit a lewd act against a minor coming up is at a hospital. So, what will happen is, someone will go in. They'll be being examined and kind of a common question now, depending on the type of examination is they're being asked whether or not they have.
Been assaulted in any way, and then they end up telling the story about what happened and get charged with a serious offense — this arranging a meeting with a minor.
What we end up doing in these cases is, first, we have to decide whether or not they've got the evidence to prove the case against you. If they do, then what we end up doing is a lot of times we'll get what's called a psychological evaluation to have a doctor take a look at the circumstances.
We will do a Static 99, a joint report to determine whether somebody is going to be a recidivist. We're trying to make the argument that this is an aberration, that it's not going to happen again.
If we can make that argument, we put ourselves in a solid position, sometimes even to get the person probation related to defending one of these cases. So, if you need help, pick up the phone and call the Hedding Law Firm at (213) 542-0979. Make the call. I stand at the ready to help you.
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