Prostitution is illegal in California, leaving many people to question why pornography and escort services are legal when selling sex acts is not. The biggest difference between an escort and a prostitute is that escorts are paid for their time, not for sex acts.
Escorts are intended to be companions for their clients, and while their jobs might entail nudity or romantic or sexual behavior, they cannot have sex or engage in lewd behavior with their clients for money. As soon as someone agrees to have sex for money or goods, they have engaged in prostitution.
Precisely because they are licensed and cannot legally operate as prostitutes. In San Diego, escorts must be licensed or work for someone with a license. Escorts who perform nude services must get a second license for this work. To be an escort in California, you cannot perform acts of prostitution or obscene live conduct —for example, masturbating in front of a client or simulating sex acts. Both of these acts are misdemeanors. However, if you operate an escort business and have been accused of pimping or pandering , the penalties are much more severe.
Because escorts can have sex with their clients as long as it was not part of their job or in exchange for compensation , it can be very difficult to prove an escort or her client engaged in prostitution or solicitation. To do so, the prosecution must successfully prove that the two parties participated in sex or were actively moving forward with the act and that the sex was compensated in one way or another.
Generally, the prosecution does not have enough evidence to prove that an escort or her client broke the law unless the defendant was caught in a sting operation. When sting operations occur, the most important evidence is whether the person had an agreement of sex for money and then met for that purpose. Fighting pimping and pandering charges can be much more difficult and will depend largely on the specifics of the incident.
