Internet Solicitation & Computer Sting Operation

Computer sex crimes are a growing trend that can have severe consequences that can negatively affect your life. When an adult over the age of 18 lures, entices or encourages a sexual act to occur with someone under the age of 18 via a computer networking system, this is considered internet solicitation of a minor. The crime is considered complete in the eyes of the law when the enticement is completed, but no actual meet up has to happen for a solicitation charge to be finalized. In order to preserve your rights and freedoms, contact a Florida internet sting operation defense lawyer or internet solicitation defense attorney as soon as possible.

The government takes internet solicitation between an adult and a minor to be a serious offense. It has been made very clear that an adult posing as a minor is not a form of entrapment and you could face a third degree felony for each solicitation made. What does this mean to you? You could be looking at five years behind prison bars for every solicitation that transpires between you and a minor.

The Florida legislature has enacted a new form of laws and punishments for adults who actually meet with minors after a solicitation has transgressed. If you travel any distance to meet a minor with the intents of sexual activities to commence, you are facing a second degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The modern age of computers – text messaging, sexting, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Craigslist, AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Google, Bing, Yahoo and Droid and iPhone use – the list is endless where law enforcement can trap its next victim in a computer internet sex sting operation aimed at sex crimes. Recently the trend has been for Florida or Federal law enforcement to impersonate either adults offering threesomes or group sexual encounters with their alleged niece, nephew, cousin, neighbor or even their own children; or to impersonate an actual minor looking for educational or recreational sexual arrangements. In either case, the deception starts from the very beginning and the legal issues of entrapment come up in every case.

These cases are all fact specific. Certainly the manner in which the contact was initiated, who suggested the sexual encounter first, how explicit was the age of the alleged victim made, what evidence does law enforcement have that you were the actual other person on the dialogue (as opposed to someone other than you using your laptop/phone/desktop computer), where is the IP address on the computer alleged to have been used, were pictures transmitted that showed the “victim” in a mature or age of maturity likeness, was a meeting ever suggested or even planned — these are just some of the initial questions the lawyers at the Florida Sex Crime Defense Law Firm will ask.

The most important thing you can do to help yourself is to swiftly contact a sex crimes defense attorney as soon as you have been contacted by law enforcement about an alleged solicitation. The Florida Sex Crimes Defense Lawyers can direct you towards the best route for your case and protect your good name and status in the community.