Arrested or Charged with Solicitation for Prostitution (C.R.S. § 18-7-202) in Colorado?

Being arrested or charged with solicitation for prostitution under C.R.S. § 18-7-202 can be both legally serious and personally devastating. This offense can lead to criminal penalties, including jail time, fines, and a permanent mark on your record, not to mention damage to your reputation, career, and family life. Colorado law enforcement actively pursues these cases, and prosecutors often seek tough penalties.

If you’re facing a solicitation charge, the most important step you can take is to understand your rights and get experienced legal counsel on your side as early as possible.

What Counts as Soliciting for Prostitution in Colorado?

Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-7-202, a person commits solicitation for prostitution when they:

• Solicit someone for the purpose of prostitution
• Arrange or offer to arrange a meeting involving prostitution
• Direct someone to a place of prostitution, knowing why they’re going

It doesn’t take much to be charged. You don’t need to engage in sexual conduct, offer money outright, or even follow through on any meeting. In fact, people are often arrested after nothing more than a short exchange or vague message—just enough, the police claim, to show intent to engage.

We’ve seen it happen: a gesture, a suggestion, a misunderstood text. Suddenly, it’s being used as evidence of a crime. And once you’re charged, it’s not just about what actually happened—it’s about how law enforcement and prosecutors frame the situation.

Is Soliciting for Prostitution a Misdemeanor or Felony?

In most cases, soliciting a prostitute is treated as a Class 3 misdemeanor under Colorado law. That means you could be looking at up to six months in county jail, a fine of up to $750, and a criminal record that doesn’t just fade away with time.

But that’s only part of the story.

These charges can escalate quickly depending on the circumstances—and when they do, the penalties get much more severe.

• If you’re accused of soliciting a child for prostitution, the charge jumps to a Class 3 felony, carrying years of potential prison time and far-reaching consequences
• If you’ve been charged with solicitation before, a repeat offense could bring enhanced penalties, including longer jail time and higher fines
• Additional charges like pandering or pimping—even if loosely connected—can result in felony-level exposure

That’s why even a so-called “minor” prostitution offense needs to be treated with urgency. A solicitation of prostitution charge, especially under C.R.S. § 18-7-202, opens the door to court-ordered penalties, public scrutiny, and lifelong repercussions.

What Happens After a Solicitation Arrest in Colorado

Most people arrested for soliciting for prostitution have never had any contact with the criminal system before. It’s a jarring experience. One minute you’re having a conversation, maybe nothing even happened—and the next, you’re being cuffed, processed, and told you’ve been charged under C.R.S. § 18-7-202. And just like that, your name is in the system.

Here’s what typically happens after an arrest:

Arrest and Booking

Once you’re arrested, you’re taken to the station or county jail. You’ll be fingerprinted, photographed, and logged into state and federal databases. This is how a criminal record begins—even if you’re never convicted.

That record can show up in background checks, licensing reviews, job applications. It’s not something that quietly goes away.

First Court Appearance

Usually within 24 to 48 hours, you’ll have to appear in court. The judge will:

• Read the charges for solicitation of prostitution
• Set bond or conditions for release
• Assign a public defender if you qualify
• Schedule the next hearing

The hearing itself is short, but it’s important. From that point forward, the court takes over the timeline.

Pretrial Proceedings

This is where a lot of cases are shaped. During this phase, your criminal defense attorney will:

• Go through all the evidence the state is using against you
• File motions if there were any violations of your rights
• Evaluate whether there’s any actual proof of intent to engage in prostitution
• Challenge how the arrest happened—especially in sting operations
• Start negotiating with the prosecutor for dismissal or reduced charges

These behind-the-scenes steps matter. Many cases never make it to trial because of what’s uncovered—or challenged—at this point.

How the Case Can Be Resolved

Every situation is different, but most solicitation cases end in one of three ways:

• Plea agreement: You agree to plead to something lesser, often avoiding jail but still carrying consequences
• Dismissal: The charge gets dropped, often because of procedural issues or lack of evidence
• Trial: Rare in these cases, but sometimes necessary if the state won’t back down and the facts are on your side

Just because it’s a Class 3 misdemeanor doesn’t mean it’s minor. A conviction stays with you, and how the case is handled now affects everything later—from employment to housing to reputation.

Penalties for Solicitation of Prostitution

If you’re convicted under C.R.S. § 18-7-202, the penalties can include:

• Up to 6 months in county jail
• A fine of up to $750
• In some cases, an extra $5,000 fine paid into the Prostitution Enforcement Cash Fund
• Probation, which often comes with mandatory classes or evaluations

Even if you avoid jail, the effects don’t stop at sentencing.

The Real-World Fallout That Comes After

Solicitation convictions carry serious collateral consequences—many of which don’t show up on a sentencing sheet:

Professional Consequences

Jobs in healthcare, education, law, real estate—anything involving licensing—can be jeopardized. You may be required to report a criminal record, and that can lead to investigations, suspensions, or even losing your license.

Immigration Status

If you’re not a U.S. citizen, a conviction for a prostitution-related charge could trigger removal proceedings or bar you from future immigration benefits.

Housing and Employment Barriers

Background checks don’t distinguish between dismissed and convicted in the way you’d hope. If someone sees a charge like soliciting a prostitute, that’s often enough to lose out on a lease or job offer.

Personal and Social Stigma

Even if the charge is ultimately reduced or dismissed, the association doesn’t always go away. These charges are emotionally heavy, and they can change the way you’re seen by others—friends, colleagues, even family members.

Defense Strategies We Use in Solicitation Cases

If you’ve been charged with soliciting for prostitution, the good news is that the state still has the burden to prove every element—including what you were thinking at the time.

That’s not easy to do, and it’s often where the case begins to fall apart. These are a few of the strategies we focus on when building a defense.

Challenging the Claim of Intent

In any solicitation of prostitution case, prosecutors must prove that you clearly intended to engage in prostitution. That’s a high bar—especially in situations involving vague conversations, subtle suggestions, or no money changing hands.

We often see officers rely on assumptions or inferences that don’t hold up under scrutiny. If what you said could be interpreted more than one way, or if there was no actual offer or agreement, that raises doubt. And doubt is exactly what we lean into.

Questioning the Sting or Police Conduct

Many of these cases come out of sting operations, and unfortunately, not all of them are clean. We’ve handled cases where:

• Police initiated the encounter and guided the conversation
• Officers used coercive or suggestive tactics
• Surveillance or searches were done without proper legal authority

When that happens, we look hard at entrapment, violations of constitutional rights, and whether the state’s own actions undermined the fairness of the case.

Exploring Diversion Options

In some counties, especially for first-time offenders, it may be possible to enter a diversion program. These programs vary, but they typically include things like:

• Educational classes or counseling
• Community service
• A period of good behavior without reoffending

If successfully completed, the solicitation charge may be dismissed, keeping it off your record and out of public databases.

Negotiating the Charge Down

There are cases where the best outcome isn’t dismissal, but a reduction. We’ve negotiated solicitation charges down to lesser offenses—charges like trespassing, loitering, or disturbing the peace—that carry far fewer long-term consequences and don’t carry the same stigma as a prostitution-related charge.

What You Should—and Shouldn’t—Do After an Arrest

When you’re arrested, what you do in the first few hours matters more than most people realize. Here’s how to avoid making your situation worse and start protecting your rights right away.

1. Stay Quiet

You have the right to remain silent, and you should use it—immediately. Even casual explanations can be twisted into damaging admissions. Do not try to “clear things up.” The safest thing you can do is politely say you want to speak with your criminal defense attorney before answering questions.

2. Don’t Agree to Searches

Police may ask to look through your phone, your car, or your hotel room. Unless they have a warrant, you are within your rights to say no. The contents of a text thread, a search history, or even a calendar entry can all be taken out of context and used as evidence of intent to engage.

3. Call a Lawyer Right Away

The sooner you speak with a defense attorney, the better. In some cases, we’re able to intervene before formal charges are even filed. We can also guide you on what to say (and more importantly, what not to say) if the police are still investigating.

4. Preserve Anything That Might Help

Save screenshots, receipts, messages—anything that paints a fuller picture of where you were, who you were talking to, or what was actually said. We’ve seen solicitation charges unravel because a client had a timestamped receipt or call log that disproved the timeline.

5. Keep It Private

Only talk about your case with your attorney. Not your friends, not your partner, not anyone else. Statements made to others can be used in court—even if you were just venting. Unlike your conversations with your lawyer, those aren’t protected.

If you’ve been charged under C.R.S. § 18-7-202, your next move is critical. Every case is different—but no case should be taken lightly. Let us help you build a defense that actually fits the facts, your record, and your life.

How Solicitation Cases Typically Wrap Up

If you’ve been charged with soliciting for prostitution, you’re probably asking one thing: how bad is this going to get?

Truth is, it depends—mostly on whether it’s your first time, and how the case gets handled from the start.

First-Time Offenders Usually Have More Options

If you don’t have a prior record, that helps. A lot. Prosecutors and courts tend to take a lighter hand, especially if you’re represented by someone who knows how to work the case. Here’s what we often see in those situations:

• Diversion programs: If you qualify, and you complete what the court asks—classes, community service, etc.—the charge might get dropped entirely.
• Deferred judgment: You plead guilty, stay out of trouble for a set period, and then you can move to seal the record. Not ideal, but way better than a conviction.
• Charge reduction: Sometimes we can get the charge dropped to something like trespassing or disturbing the peace. No “prostitution” label, fewer long-term problems.

But none of that happens automatically. It takes work—and it usually takes early, strategic negotiation.

When There Are Aggravating Details

If the case has something the court’s going to take seriously—like you’ve been through this before, or it happened near a school—things can tighten up quickly. In those situations, outcomes often include:

• Probation, often with strings attached: counseling, regular check-ins, classes.
• Short jail time, sometimes with work release if you’re eligible.
• Higher fines, and mandatory programs you have to complete to stay out of custody.

That said, even when things look stacked against you, these cases can still be shaped. We’ve worked cases where the facts weren’t great—but by pressing the right issues, we changed the outcome.

Why You Need a Lawyer Who’s Done This Before

These aren’t traffic tickets. A solicitation charge under C.R.S. § 18-7-202 sticks. Even if you avoid jail, the consequences can follow you—for years.

And here’s the part most people miss: it’s not always about what happened. It’s about what the state thinks they can prove, and how much leverage you have to push back.

That’s where we come in. When we take these cases, we:

• Tear through the evidence—every detail, every gap
• Handle things quietly—we know discretion matters
• Talk to the DA early—sometimes before a case is even officially filed
• Stay ready for court—but only if it needs to go there

You don’t want a generic criminal defense lawyer who dabbles in these cases. You want someone who understands how these charges land in real life—and knows how to keep them from taking over yours.

Moving Forward After Solicitation Charges

Yes, getting arrested for soliciting a prostitute is serious. But no, it doesn’t have to wreck your life.

We’ve walked a lot of people through this—people with families, jobs, reputations they care about. Most of them came out the other side okay. Not because they hoped it would all blow over. But because they got help early and took the case seriously from day one.

If you’re dealing with a charge under C.R.S. § 18-7-202, contact us. No pressure. We’ll talk through it, figure out what’s real, and map out a plan that protects your future.