Category: Sex Crimes

A 21-year-old Irvine Valley College student has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman in a school parking lot. According to The Orange County Register, the alleged assault occurred at Irvine Valley College in Irvine. Officials say the two were talking when the man allegedly forced the woman into his vehicle. After escaping, she described him to the authorities.

They arrested the 21-year-old man because he had previously been stopped, but not arrested, for other incidents involving inappropriate touching, the report states.

Under federal law, law enforcement authorities must make information available to the public regarding convicted sex offenders. It is up to each state to determine what information is made available. Megan’s Law specifically requires persons convicted of a sex crime against a child to notify local law enforcement agencies regarding where they live. It also requires individuals convicted of certain crimes to register as sex offenders.

In California, you can search the official Megan’s Law database by a specific name, zip code, city, or county to look for personal information about a registrant. There is a map application, which allows people to easily view registrants in their areas or even neighborhoods. A simple search on the database will bring up pictures, names, descriptions, and prior convictions. Now, imagine applying for a job when your criminal history, photo, and description are posted for everyone to see online.

A 32-year-old Redondo Beach man faces criminal charges after allegedly asking a 17-year-old girl to work for him as a prostitute. According to The Daily Breeze, the man was arrested in Torrance. Officials say the man befriended the girl a month prior to his arrest and continued contact. The arrest occurred after the girl told the authorities that he suggested she work for him as a prostitute. It is not clear if officials obtained evidence beyond the allegations of the teenager, but he now faces charges including pandering and annoying or molesting a minor.

According to California Penal Code 647.6: “Every person who annoys or molests any child under 18 years of age shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both the fine and imprisonment.” There are additional penalties for individuals who are already on probation or who made physical contact with a juvenile during the incident.

A 54-year-old man was recently arrested for allegedly exposing himself to a teenager before telling her to get into his car. According to a CBS Los Angeles news report, the incident occurred at Keystone Street and Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank. Officials say he allegedly exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl while in his car before asking her into his vehicle. The girl ran away and gave his license plate number to the authorities. The man was later taken into custody for suspicion of indecent exposure and attempted kidnapping.

Attempting to kidnap or imprison someone is a serious crime in California. There are many different charges that can result from a kidnapping incident. Simple kidnapping under California Penal Code 207 is a felony that involves instilling fear to carry a person from one place to another.

A former 46-year-old Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced for having sexual relations with a minor. According to The Marina Del Rey Patch, the investigation began when an informant contacted the Los Angeles County Child Abuse Hotline. Officials say the deputy had sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl.

On August 10 he pleaded no contest to felony charges of oral sex with a minor. He must spend 60 days in jail and could end up serving an additional 30 days under house arrest with electronic monitoring. Additional penalties include supervised probation for five years and mandatory sex offender counseling.

The owner of a San Fernando Valley driving school is facing accusations of molesting a teenage boy. According to a CBS News report, the 44-year-old man has been charged with misdemeanor sexual battery after a 17-year-old boy told officials that the instructor molested him. The teenager said the driving instructor touched him inappropriately. Police believe that there may be other victims and an investigation is still ongoing.

According to California Penal Code Section 243.4 (a): “Any person who touches an intimate part of another person while that person is unlawfully restrained by the accused or an accomplice, and if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse, is guilty of sexual battery.” A conviction is punishable by up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $2,000. If convicted of a felony, individuals could face up to four years in state prison and a $10,000 fine.

ABC 7 News reports that Irvine police arrested a 29-year-old man recently whom authorities believe is a serial rapist. The man was arrested and booked into the Orange County Jail on multiple felony and rape counts. He is being held without bail.

According to the article, the arrest came following a joint investigation between the Newport Beach and Irvine police departments. DNA and fingerprints were discovered from a suspect in rapes that allegedly occurred in both cities in May of 2005 and July of 2010. Police reported that investigators did not previously have a suspect matching the DNA or prints in any law enforcement database.

The man is accused of committing rape in Newport Beach in May of 2005 and in Irvine in November of 2006 and again in July of 2010. Both incidents in Irvine occurred at the same apartment complex. However, the rape victims were not able to offer police a description of the suspect since the rapist had covered his face. Detectives started to closely watch the area of the Irvine apartment complex after the second rape occurred.

Then, in June of 2011, a suspicious subject was reported to police in that area. Daily patrols in the area by the Irvine police department were increased, as was nighttime surveillance. The man was seen in the area and had talked with police. Further investigation resulted in forensic experts matching a fingerprint from the rape case in Newport Beach to the man. The fingerprint also matched two fingerprints discovered in the investigation of the Irvine incidents.

Whether you have been charged with a felony or misdemeanor sex crime in California, you are facing severe, life-changing penalties. To have your rights and your freedom protected, contact Lawrence Wolf, a highly skilled sex crime defense attorney in Orange County. Call [number type=”1″].

California’s pandering law prohibits encouraging another person to become a prostitute and imposes penalties on people convicted of trying to get someone else to become a prostitute. According to the California Supreme Court, the law also forbids a person from encouraging a current prostitute to come work for them, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

In a 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a Los Angeles man who, in 2007, had stopped his truck to solicit an undercover police officer dressed as a prostitute. The man had allegedly offered the “prostitute” housing and clothes if she would give him her earnings. The court stated that, when a pimp offers a prostitute protection or other things in exchange for her income, “the offer increases the likelihood that the prostitute will be able to maintain or expand her activities.”

The two dissenting justices, however, argued that it isn’t possible to “become” a prostitute when one already is a prostitute and that the law was not designed to punish people for asking a prostitute to go on being a prostitute. They argue that the penalty for encouraging someone to become a prostitute should be separate, because it causes more harm to encourage someone to take up prostitution than it does to encourage someone who already practices prostitution to go on doing it.

Often, the application of the criminal law is a matter of interpretation, especially when the facts of what happened don’t exactly match up with the acts a particular law prohibits. The experienced Los Angeles sex crime defense attorneys at the Law Offices of Lawrence Wolf examine the facts of each client’s case carefully and build an aggressive defense that fights for the best possible outcome based upon the specifics of their case. For a free and confidential consultation, call the Law Offices of Lawrence Wolf today at [number type=”1″].

Over the past two years, the Los Angeles Police Department has almost finished testing over 6,000 untested rape kits, according to DailyNews.com.

For six years, the LAPD has been aware of the problem of the untested rape kits and has been struggling to keep up-to-date with testing the kits. However, no action was taken until advocacy groups and a former L.A. controller publicized the problem. The LAPD then began collecting funds to send the kits to private labs for testing, as well as hiring more crime analysts in spite of a hiring freeze. As a result, only 35 rape kits remain to be tested from the original 6,000.

However, once the kits have been tested, the work is not over. The LAPD then must review the results and send the DNA information to federal databases. The databases then search for a match through millions of profiles of individuals whose DNA is on file. The LAPD has received over 2,500 new kits since December 2008 that require testing, which is when they began working on testing the backlogged cases. Of those, almost 1,000 are untested. The LAPD believes the lab will be able to handle the new cases when the new analysts finish their training.

These untested rape kits could be very problematic. An individual could be convicted of a rape or sexual assault without the kit, be sent to prison and have their life turned upside down, only to later find out evidence existed the whole time that could have resulted in the case being dropped.

If you have been accused of a sex crime in Los Angeles, contact the Law Offices of Lawrence Wolf to speak with one of our California sex crime defense attorneys. In most cases, sex crimes in California are felonies, which can carry life-changing sentences and heavy penalties. Contact us today for a free consultation by calling [number type=”1″].

Chelsea’s Law, a bill named after a 17 year old San Diego girl who was raped and murdered by a repeat sex offender may be drawing closer to becoming state law, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The parents of the girl have worked with California representatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties to create Chelsea’s Law, which could change the way California approaches penalties for sex offenders. The law could potentially create longer prison sentences, tougher parole requirements and targeted treatment programs.

The law could potentially move lower level offenders who were not convicted of sex crimes out of higher security prisons. One of the top priorities of the Republican representative was to create automatic life prison sentences without the possibility of parole for those who had committed violent sexual crimes against children. Come September, Chelsea’s Law could be signed into state law as it is only two steps away from reaching the Governor’s desk.

Sex crimes in California, especially those involving children, are serious offenses that often come with lengthy prison sentences as well as mandatory registration as a sex offender. A conviction can potentially limit the kind of work you may do as well as where you may live.

If you have been charged with a sex crime and feel that you may have been wrongfully accused, it would be in your best interest to contact The Law Offices of Lawrence Wolf. Our experienced California sex crime defense attorneys will aggressively pursue your case, examining every detail to ensure that your rights are not violated and that you receive the best possible outcome of your case. For more information, please contact The Law Offices of Lawrence Wolf at [number type=”1″].