if you have a clean record and you get caught for the first time do you have to pay a fine and register as a sex offender, or just pay a fine, i live in los angeles

Sex offender is a child molester or someone who rapes.Not the same

Do not make much of a distinction. ladies that are caught providing have to register as a sex offender in some cities. One that did have such a law at one time was Portland, Oregon. I suspect that San Diego also has such a law, but am not sure. It is crazy to list a lady that gets arrested for selling sex alongside child molesters and rapists and rapists/murderers, but some cities seem unable to make the moral distinction between the crimes as far as sex offender registering is concerned.