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Punishments for Underage Sex Trafficking in California

Human Trafficking Penalties in California

This is a broad area in criminal defense across Los Angeles County and Orange County, San Bernardino County, Santa Barbara County.  Law enforcement is targeting individuals using underage females in sex trafficking. Human trafficking is covered under California Penal Code 236.1 PC. 

Sex trafficking has to do with women being used around and used in various capacities to have sex with individuals — at massage parlors, prostitution rings.  Sometimes women are being brought from different countries, and part of their passage they don't realize is they have to work off their path, and they're used to having sex with men, which is the whole crux of a sex trafficking crime.

Also, when you talk about the ramifications of sex trafficking, especially if the women involved are under-age — you're facing many years in prison.  The laws that the legislature has created to deal with sex trafficking throughout the country, and specifically in Los Angeles, really put people behind bars for a long time. See CALCRIM 1243 – Human Trafficking.

High Bail and 1275 Hold

I see what they call “bail deviations,” “1275 holds,” and that has to do with them being able to put a bail higher than what you would typically have for a particular crime and the justification of protecting the public.

Punishments for Underage Sex Trafficking in California

This concept of a “1275 hold” is placed on a person's bail where they can't bail out unless they can show the fund they're using to bail out is clean funds.

In other words, funds don't have anything to do with sex trafficking.  So, if you're making thousands of dollars in sex trafficking and you get arrested, and then you're trying to use that money to bail out, the government is going to block you from doing that.

They're going to make you come with people who have good jobs that can go and show that they're getting money to bail you out from a legitimate source, which is not always an easy thing to do.

I've seen where you've had a prior sex trafficking case, and you get a new one.  They could put the ball up as high as a million dollars to block that particular individual from being able to bail out, and they're going to be wanting years in custody.

So, when it comes to these cases, depending on if they have good evidence against you or not so good proof against you, either way, you need a seasoned criminal defense attorney that is familiar with the sex trafficking laws.

One who knows how to defend somebody knows how to do damage control when the client doesn't have a legitimate defense and figure out ways to get that person a result that is not sometimes easy to get.

Prison Sentence and Sex Offender Registration

So, the consequences for sex trafficking good be grave.  In other words, people will be put in custody not able to bail out because their bail will be jacked up so high and there will be a “1275 hold” put on them. The authorities will be seeking lengthy prison sentences, and they're also going to be seeking sex registration.  So, there's a whole host of things that go along with these sex trafficking charges.

Your best is to hire someone like me who's been doing this for over 25 years, has seen the evolution of sex crimes and sex trafficking.  This whole concept of sex trafficking, believe it or not, it's a relatively new idea.

When you have the internet and all these different things going on where people can go on social media and get young women involved in sex trafficking, this is a whole different ballgame for law enforcement, and they're still trying to figure out how to deal with these type of cases.

Number one, how to ferret out the involved individuals; and two, how to punish them to a degree to put a dent in this type of activity.

Sex Trafficking Cases in Orange County, CA

I see a lot of sex trafficking going on in the Orange County area near Disneyland because there's a lot of young women there.  /that's an area where the authorities want to keep things clean because they have families going through there.

There are children.  So, I know that the Orange County District Attorney's office has put a lot of workforce towards trying to stop sex trafficking, even going as far as getting the federal government involved.

If somebody is sophisticated enough in sex trafficking, the feds will become involved.  They're just more refined.  They have a lot more workforce to put towards stamping out sex trafficking. See CALCRIM 1244 – Causing Minor to Engage in Commercial Sex Act.

So, if you've got one of these cases or a loved one that you know has one of these cases, and it's being lumped in with those flawed individuals that the legislature was meant to put in prison for a long time, you're going to want to hire somebody like me to start to turn the tide in your favor.

Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense law firm located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. We are also located at 633 West Fifth Street Los Angeles, CA 90071. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.

Related:

Will I Go to Jail if Charged with Human Trafficking?

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Hedding Law Firm is committed to answering your questions about state or federal sex crime issues in California and throughout the United States.

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