Guilty plea in child prostitution case

A 70-year-old Rancho Santa Fe real estate expert accused of repeatedly soliciting two girls, ages 11 and 13, for sex pleaded guilty Thursday.

Despite the plea, Michael Lustig isn’t giving up on his defense.

Lustig still plans to appeal his case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based on a recent Supreme Court ruling that banned warrantless cellphone searches.

Lustig’s case involved evidence from six cellphones that sheriff’s deputies initially searched without a warrant in 2012. A judge in his case ruled in March, and again this month, that the Supreme Court’s decision in Riley v. California has no effect on Lustig’s case, and that the cellphone evidence would remain intact.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez based part of his decision on the “good faith exception,” which means a law enforcement officer reasonably believed such searches were within the law and shouldn’t be penalized if the law changes.

Lustig’s guilty plea — to three counts of interstate travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise — means he won’t have to go through with the trial that was set for next week in San Diego federal court. But the U.S. Attorney’s Office is allowing him the option of appealing the cellphone evidence. Depending on the outcome of the appeal, Lustig could end up standing trial, or the guilty plea could stand.

Lustig was arrested in a prostitution sting at an Encinitas motel after authorities say he answered a Craigslist ad for sex. A search of six cellphones found in his jacket and in his car revealed about 200 phone calls and text messages that set up sexual encounters with two girls, ages 11 and 13 at the time, prosecutors said.

The text messages show he used code words, such as “library” and “bookstore,” for sex, according to the plea agreement.

“Hey is the bookstore open? I’m in desperate need of books rite now,” one message read.

In his plea, Lustig only admitted to crimes against the older girl.