Virginia Solicitation of a Minor Lawyer

Virginia Solicitation of a Minor Attorney

Solicitation of a minor is a serious internet sex crime that is treated harshly under Virginia law. The attorneys at Johnson/Citronberg have extensive experience in defending people accused of online solicitation of a minor. From our offices in Alexandria and Charlottesville, our skilled sex crimes attorneys have successfully handled these cases across Virginia, and we work tirelessly to defend our clients and their reputations.

Online Solicitation of a Minor

Under Virginia law, online Solicitation of a Minor is a felony offense, which can be found at Virginia Code § 18.2-374.3. The law makes it unlawful to use a computer, cell phone, or any similar device to do any of the following:

• Expose your genitals to a child;
• Propose that the child expose his or her genitalia;
• Propose that the child perform a sexual act;
• Entice/invite the child to a place in order to commit such acts.

Virginia law defines a “child” as anyone under the age of 18, but as discussed below, the penalties depend on the age of the child.

The Penalties if Convicted of Solicitation of a Minor

Under Virginia law, a person convicted of solicitation of a minor can be sentenced up to 10 years in prison if the victim is between 15 and 17 years old. If the victim is under the age of 15 and the defendant is more than 7 years older, Virginia law imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison. Penalties increase significantly if someone breaks the same law a second time.

It should be noted that in the vast majority of cases involving an internet sting operations the “child” claims to be 14 or younger, thereby triggering the mandatory minimum sentence. A conviction will also cause an individual to have to register on Virginia’s sex offender registry. A conviction, however, can be sealed under Virginia Code § 19.2-392.12 unless the 5 year mandatory minimum applies.

Undercover Internet Sting Operations

People are typically arrested for this offense by either communicating online with an actual child or, more commonly, being caught in an undercover “internet sting operation.” During these sting operations, the police will create a fake online profile or a fake posting on a website or cellphone application. When someone responds, the officer will normally state that he or she is a minor and then ask the person to send sexually explicit pictures or agree to meet somewhere. By sending a photo or agreeing to meet, the individual can find himself being charged with online solicitation of a minor.

Defenses to Online Solicitation of a Minor

People often wrongly assume that there are no defenses to solicitation of a minor charges. But in many cases, the person being charged did not believe that they were talking to an actual “child.” In other cases, the person may have been entrapped by law enforcement. To understand these legal defenses, it is important to first understand the background of internet sting operations in Virginia.

Virginia’s internet sting operations are largely conducted by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force which is comprised of law enforcement officers across Virginia. This Task Force is federally funded, and the amount of funds that it receives from the federal government is dependent on the number of people who are arrested in internet sting operations. Because the Task Force is motivated by the number of arrests, the members of the Task Force often engage in aggressive and unfair tactics. The result is that many innocent people are charged.

Defenses: You Didn’t Know it was a Child

To get a conviction, the Commonwealth has to show that the defendant “knew or had reason believe that the child was younger than 15 years of age.” Undercover officers will often engage in tactics to lead someone to think that they are talking to an adult. If the defendant did not believe the child was underage, there can be no conviction. An experienced internet sex crimes attorney will examine all of the surrounding circumstances (e.g., platform used, chat name, language used, length of the chat, exchanged photographs, etc.), to determine if this is a viable defense.

Here are some common tactics that we’ve seen law enforcement use to confuse or mislead someone into thinking they’re talking to an adult:

• Use a website or cellphone app that is for adults only.
• Mention their age in passing and only once.
• List an age on their profile that is 18 or older (or blank).
• Send photographs of themselves depicting an adult (we had one case where the photograph in question was of a 35-year-old woman but with a filter to make her appear younger).
• Target users in chats labeled “role play,” “fantasy,” or something similar.
• Use language to suggest that he or she is actually an adult engaged in role play.
• Engage in multiple chats with the same individual over days, weeks, or months (while only mentioning their age in a prior chat).

We have seen a number of cases where the undercover officer only briefly mentions an age in passing. If there is a long chat (or multiple chats) or if the individual was talking with many people at the same time, it is entirely plausible that he simply didn’t pay attention to the stated age or that he forgot what the officer stated earlier in the chat. We have also seen cases where our client fully believed that he was simply engaged in role play chat with an adult, and the officer used language to reinforce this belief.

Defenses: You Were Entrapped

An individual cannot be guilty of solicitation of a minor if they were entrapped by law enforcement into committing the offense. Under Virginia law, entrapment consists of two things: 1) the undercover officer induced the defendant to commit the crime; and 2) the defendant was not predisposed to engage in the crime. Inducement generally means that the idea to commit the offense originated with the police, that the police used undue persuasion, and that the person would not have committed the act except for the police conduct.

In our experience, the most important element in any entrapment defense is establishing that the person would not have committed the crime but for the actions of the police. This means that the defense lawyer’s job is to show that his client never would have agreed to send a picture, or to meet with the child, if it wasn’t for the manner in which the sting operation was conducted.

To do this, we gather as much evidence as we can to show that our client had no sexual interest in children. This means gathering witnesses (such as family members, close friends, and prior lovers) to testify about our client’s traits and that our client was never interested in children. As discussed below, we also use psychological experts and computer forensic experts to bolster this defense. We also closely scrutinize the chats themselves to see if our client was reluctant to continue the chats, if the officer attempted to persuade our client into doing or saying something, and if the officer violated any ICAC rules or regulations.

Using Expert Witnesses

In addition to analyzing all the surrounding circumstances of the chats in question, a good sex crimes attorney will also employ expert witnesses to reinforce the defense’s theory of the case. To support the defense that the defendant did not know the age of the “child,” a psychologist or psychiatrist can perform a psychosexual evaluation on the defendant and then testify that the defendant is not sexually interested in children. Similarly, with an entrapment defense, a psychologist or psychiatrist can testify that the defendant lacked the motive to solicit a minor. Such testimony is powerful evidence that the defendant never intended to commit a crime and is therefore innocent.

The defense can also employ a computer forensic expert to show that the defendant never chatted with other children and that his computer history only showed an interest in adults (e.g., search history, search terms, adult pornography).

Contact Us

Our Virginia criminal defense lawyers know how to defend against charges alleging online solicitation of a minor. We have helped dozens of clients obtain pretrial dismissals and reductions. If you or someone you know is facing an online solicitation of a minor charge, contact our firm for immediate help. We have offices in Alexandria and Charlottesville, and we represent clients throughout Virginia.