In NJ, several agencies have been busted, and the "phone girl" has been charged in each case for aiding and abetting. In several cases that I know of, the phone girls have entered the Pre-Trial Intervention program which means that they plead "no contest", do some community service, pay a fine, but keep a clean record.

That's assuming that it can't be shown that the pbone girl is an owner, or, as in one case, was the daughter of the owner.

There were a series of drug houses in the Valley are of L.A. in the late 80's.  You went to one location and asked where people were.  You were directed to one house and you slipped money through a slot in a door.  They gave you a piece of paper, which you took to a second house and slipped that through a slot in the door.  The person behind the door went away for a few minutes and either he, she, or someone else came back and gave you drugs.

The houses were fortified with bars and had other security measures. They were owned by someone who was never there, although he paid for the bars and other security measures.

Everyone involved, from the person who paid for the security bars, to the person giving locations to the first house, to the person slipping drugs to you was equally involved.

(For those with good memories, these were houses that Chief Gates used the military-style assult vehichles on.)

you have described a chain of involvement to commit a crime so they were all subject to being charged. Sometimes these houses were taken by force from elderly owners who were too terrified to resist or complain and their failure to ask for the intervention of "Gate crashers" may have affected their status, but did not make them a willing party to the drug sales. I think some of these place still exist from time to time.

-- Modified on 7/4/2010 12:26:32 PM

This was one drug family that operated all the fortified crack houses.  None of them were elderly people failing to intervene.  No one lived in the houses, which were all either for taking orders, dispensing drugs, or counting money.  

Similar places still exist, but that level was pretty unique.

My point was just to use those by analogy to "bookers."  Just as the guy who told people which house to go to was criminally liable, so is a "booker" or anyone else who is involved.  

There are two easy questions - both for the jury: 1) did the other person know what was going on; 2) did the person help.

(I know this is phrasing it simply and more detailed explanations can be given.  There have been tens of thousands of words writen on aid and abetting, but this is just to boil it down.)

That background check companies exist and can be used by providers (if that were the case and it may not fit the rigorous requirements of many credit check companies), I do not think the credit check companies could be charged as they would not fit the definition of pandering/pimping and are totally removed and uninvolved and unaware and unconnected in motive or profit from the prostitution aspect. Likewise you could not connect the subway department of the city of NY as a transporter of prostitutes even though they do transport them as well as murders, rapists and my grandmother.
If you make the screener an independent contractor, it would not affect his/her collusion in the crime, it would only affect how the screener is paid  (no withholding taxes) and might shield the company from some liability for the screener's actions in the work place.

Would someone that drives folks to appointment fit the definition of pandering/pimping