Sex Crimes

Sex Offense Charges in California

Sexual Battery — Penal Code § 243.4

Touching an intimate part of another person against their will for sexual purposes. A wobbler in many circumstances, chargeable as a misdemeanor or felony depending on the alleged circumstances — including whether restraint, incapacity, or fraud is alleged.

Rape — Penal Code § 261

Non-consensual sexual intercourse, including where consent was absent due to force, threat, incapacity, or inability to consent. A felony carrying substantial state prison exposure and registration consequences.

Prostitution and Solicitation — Penal Code § 647(b)

Engaging in, soliciting, or agreeing to engage in prostitution. A misdemeanor.

These cases very often originate in undercover operations. Evidence typically consists of recorded conversations, text or app messages, and surveillance — which means the evidence is largely fixed and the defense frequently turns on what the communications actually establish, and on how the operation was conducted.

Indecent Exposure — Penal Code § 314

Willfully exposing oneself in a public place or in the presence of others who may be offended. Intent is the central element — the statute requires exposure for sexual gratification or to offend, not merely exposure.

A conviction can carry registration consequences, which makes it far more serious than its misdemeanor classification suggests.

Lewd Conduct in Public — Penal Code § 647(a)

Engaging in lewd conduct in a public place or where others may be offended.

These charges frequently arise from undercover operations. Two elements are commonly contested: whether the location legally qualified as public, and whether anyone was present who would likely be offended — both of which are requirements, not assumptions.

Sex Offender Registration — What Changed in 2021

For decades, California required lifetime registration for nearly every registrable offense. That is no longer the general rule.

Senate Bill 384, effective January 2021, established a three-tier system:

Tier placement depends on the offense of conviction and on specified factors including prior convictions and risk assessment.

Petitioning to Terminate Registration

SB 384 also created a process to petition for termination of the registration requirement once the minimum period has been completed and the statutory conditions are satisfied.

If you have been registering for years or decades under the former lifetime rule, you may now be eligible to petition. The District Attorney may oppose, and the court decides — but for many people this is the first realistic path off the registry that has ever existed.

This is separate work from defending a criminal charge, and it’s worth asking about even if your case concluded long ago.

What Registration Involves

• Annual re-registration, plus updates on any change of address
• Public disclosure for many registrants
• Residency and employment restrictions in some circumstances
• Consequences for housing, employment, and professional licensing
• Travel and international entry complications

Why the Pre-Filing Window Matters More Here

Sex offense investigations are typically slower than other criminal investigations. Police interview witnesses, obtain forensic examinations, collect digital evidence, and often conduct a pretext call before presenting anything to the District Attorney.

That means there is frequently a period — sometimes months — between when a person learns they’re being investigated and when a filing decision is made.

That window is the most valuable period in the entire case. During it, counsel can:

• Ensure investigators communicate through the attorney rather than contacting you directly
• Preserve evidence that supports the defense — messages, location data, surveillance, witness accounts — before it’s deleted or overwritten
• Retain experts where forensic or digital evidence is central
• Present exculpatory evidence and context to the prosecutor before a charging decision is made
• In appropriate cases, prevent charges from being filed at all

Once charges are filed, the case becomes public, and much of what could have been avoided has already happened.

→ Pre-Filing & Investigation

Consequences Beyond Sentencing

Sex offense convictions carry consequences that reach further than almost any other category:

• Registration under the tiered system described above
• Immigration. Many of these offenses are treated as crimes involving moral turpitude or as aggravated felonies, with severe consequences for non-citizens
• Professional licensing. Medical, nursing, teaching, legal, and many other boards act on these charges — frequently before any conviction
• Employment. Background checks and, for registrants, public disclosure
• Housing. Both private rentals and residency restrictions
• Custody and family court proceedings
• Educational consequences, including Title IX proceedings running parallel to a criminal case with separate rules and timelines

The reputational consequences begin at the allegation, not at the conviction. That is precisely why the early stages matter.

Defenses in Sex Offense Cases

Available defenses depend entirely on the facts and the charge. Among those that arise:

Consent. Where consent is a legal element of the offense and the evidence supports it, it is a defense. These cases frequently involve conflicting accounts of the same encounter, and the evidence that clarifies them — messages, timelines, witnesses, subsequent communications — matters.

Insufficient evidence. The prosecution’s burden is proof beyond a reasonable doubt on every element. Many of these cases rest on a single account without corroboration.

Mistaken identity. Particularly in cases involving strangers, limited opportunity to observe, or suggestive identification procedures.

The conduct doesn’t satisfy the statute. Indecent exposure requires specific intent. Lewd conduct requires a public place and a likely-offended observer. Solicitation requires agreement. These elements are frequently assumed rather than proven.

Problems with the investigation. Suggestive interview techniques, failure to preserve evidence, gaps in the forensic record, and chain-of-custody issues.

Unreliable or contradicted accounts. Where an account has materially changed between statements, or is contradicted by digital evidence, records, or other witnesses.

False allegations. These occur, and they occur in identifiable contexts — custody disputes, divorce proceedings, immigration matters, and civil claims. Where the evidence supports it, it is investigated and presented. It is one defense among several, not a starting assumption.

Constitutional violations. Unlawful searches, un-Mirandized custodial interrogation, and improper seizure of devices.

Why a Former Prosecutor Matters

Sex offense cases are handled by specialized units, reviewed carefully before filing, and evaluated against a specific set of questions: how the account has held up, what corroboration exists, what the forensic evidence shows, and how the case will present to a jury.

Polina Logrue worked inside the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and served as the assigned prosecutor for the Misdemeanor Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit — handling sensitive cases, coordinating with law enforcement, and working with the kind of evidence these prosecutions are built on.

That background means she understands what a filing deputy is actually assessing, which evidentiary problems prompt genuine reconsideration, and what a pre-filing presentation needs to contain to be taken seriously.

Meet Polina →

Under Investigation? Do This Now

1. Do not speak with investigators. Not to deny it, not to explain, not to cooperate. Ask for a lawyer.
2. Do not communicate with the complaining witness — by any means, through anyone, for any reason. Assume any contact is recorded.
3. Do not consent to any search of your phone, computer, home, or vehicle.
4. Do not delete anything. Deletion is recoverable, it is noticed, and it creates separate criminal exposure.
5. Preserve everything — messages, call logs, photos, location data, receipts, anything establishing a timeline.
6. Write down your account and give it only to your attorney.
7. Tell your attorney about any professional license, visa status, or pending Title IX proceeding. All three change the strategy.
8. Call immediately. In these cases more than any other, what happens before charges are filed determines what follows.

Call (949) 758-4469 · Confidential Consultation

Related Matters

• Pre-Filing & Investigation — the most valuable stage in these cases
• Domestic Violence — where the allegation arises within a relationship
• Assault & Battery — frequently charged alongside
• Restraining Orders — commonly sought in parallel
• Expungements — and what they do and don’t affect