An undercover officer working as a prostitute, for example, cannot initiate a conversation leading to the customer's solicitation offer.
So, when posting an ad to the internet, or replying, who is initiating contact? The one posting, or the one picking up the phone and calling or talking to online though chat?
Update:only reason i asked is because im trying to help my friend out who went though some horrible ****, heres the example
he went on craigs list and saw the post of a girl who was an agent, this was right after someone very dear to him died and he wasnt in the right state of mine, she was claiming to be 14 and he had talked to her over the phone and she sounded 30 from what i could read from the reports she was 28 twice the age claimed and thats the reason why he went even has the text messages where he says ur not 14 but they are trying to get him for solicitation of a minor, ive known him all my life and it was just his dumb *** mistake i know hes not a pedo and the death of someone he loved is still affecting him, this happened like a day after the funeral
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
"An undercover officer working as a prostitute, for example, cannot initiate a conversation leading to the customer's solicitation offer."
Since that's wrong, there's really no point in the rest of it.
You may not know him as well as you think. Just because he wrote a text saying he didn't believe her doesn't mean he really didn't.
Who imitated contact is irrelevant. If he made sexual overtures to someone who presented themselves as 14, he's in trouble.
Your friend needs a lawyer, not a binch of nonsense about entrapment.
Where did you get the idea that an undercover officer can't initiate a conversation that leads to the customer's solicitation offer?
If an undercover officer posts a fake craigslist ad and you show up and say "Here's $200 for sex", you can (and will) be arrested.
You wrote: "...An undercover officer working as a prostitute, for example, cannot initiate a conversation leading to the customer's solicitation offer..."
Since that is not true, this question is pretty much moot.
However, the answer is the one who gets involved with criminal intent.
- Stuart
That would be the UC officer starting the conversation, but the customer is the one doing the crime, so it's really the customer, but you need to be careful around these cops-- they're tricky. If you get an ad in an e-mail or in the snail mail advertising stuff like that, junk it. Chances are, you'll end up in the slammer if you try it.