Virginia’s highest court has upheld the conviction of a 54-year-old man who argued that his offer of $40 to lick the rear end of a female detective posing as a prostitute did not “constitute a request to perform the prohibited act of anilingus.”

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel rejected Harry Garfield Chadderton’s bid to overturn his November 2012 conviction for solicitation of prostitution, a misdemeanor.

Seen in the adjacent mug shot, Chadderton was busted during an undercover operation during which a cop (“Detective Wallace”) posed as a hooker. During his encounter with the cop, Chadderton “requested to ‘lick her ass’ twice,” according to the February 11 Court of Appeals opinion.

Chadderton contended that his request to “lick [Wallace’s] ass” did not amount to a solicitation to perform anilingus as described in the state’s criminal code (specifically § 18.2-361(A)).

The appellate panel, however, rejected this novel claim, ruling that while Chadderton “did not solicit anilingus by using that specific term,” his statements “were made for the purpose of engaging” in that very act. He offered “forty dollars for a sex act involving the licking of her anal region,” the jurists stated.

The panel cited a prior ruling noting that, “It would be completely unrealistic to require… [the description of] the acts constituting the commission of crimes in statutory or technical language in order to prove the commission of such acts.”

Chadderton’s appeal was filed by a Richmond lawyer who represented him in his criminal case and a prior lower court appeal.