Pats owner Kraft accused of soliciting prostitute
Robert .raft the billionaire owner of the 1ew (ngland 3atriots faces charges of so liciting a prostitute after he was twice videotaped in a sex act at a shopping center mas sage parlor in )lorida police said )riday. The year old .raft de nied any wrongdoing. The case comes amid a crack down on sex trafficking from 3alm each to Orlando in which police planted cameras in massage parlors.
.raft was not immediately arrested. Jupiter police said a warrant will be issued and his attorneys will be notified. They said details about the misdemeanor charges against the owner of the uper owl champion team will not be re leased until next week.
undreds of arrest war rants have been issued in re cent days as a result of the six month investigation and more are expected. Ten spas have been closed and several people have been taken into custody on sex trafficking charges.
Jupiter 3olice Chief Daniel Kerr said he was shocked to learn that Kraft, who is worth billion, was paying for sex inside a shopping-center massage parlor, the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. “We are as eTually stunned as everyone else,” Kerr said.
Most people charged for the first time with soliciting a prostitute in Florida are allowed to enter a diversion program, said attorney David Weinstein, a former prosecutor. Kraft would probably have to perform 100 hours of community service and attend a course on the harmful effects of prostitution and sex trafficking, he said.
7he arrest could also get Kraft in trouble with the
NFL, which in a statement said only that it is “aware of the ongoing law enforcement matter and will continue to monitor developments.”
8nder league policy, players, owners, coaches and other employees can be punished for “conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in” the NFL.
“Ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline,” the policy says.
7he 3atriots won the Super Bowl this month over the Los Angeles Rams for their sixth NFL championship in the past 1 seasons, making them the most successful team in pro sports during that span. Before the Super Bowl, several retired NFL players appeared in a public service
announcement decrying sexual exploitation and human trafficking in Atlanta, the host city.
Kraft lives in Massachusetts and has a home in the 3alm Beach area. 7hough he is a Democrat, he is friendly with 3resident Donald 7rump and a freTuent guest at 7rump’s Mar-a-Lago club. Kraft’s wife, Myra Hiatt Kraft, died in 2011. He has been dating 3 -year-old actress Ricki Noel Lander since 2012.
“Well it’s very sad. I was very surprised to see it. He’s proclaimed his innocence, totally,” 7rump said at the White House on Friday.
In a statement, Kraft’s representatives said they “categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity.”
7he spa Kraft alleged-
ly visited is in a busy, upper-middle-class shopping center with neighbors that include a dentist, a real estate office, surf and bike shops and a 3ublix supermarket.
After hearing about the arrest, Brian Rubino, a 3atriot fan who lives nearby, went by the spa wearing a team jersey. He said Kraft made a mistake, but he could see how it might happen.
“A -year-old man, lost his wife, who knows I see how you can end up in a place like this,” Rubino said.
Vero Beach police Chief David Currey, whose agency has been involved in the sex-trafficking investigation, told reporters earlier this week that the prostitutes are victims who have been trapped into the trade.
“7hese girls are there all day long, into the evening.
7hey can’t leave and they are performing sex acts,” Currey said, according to 7C3alm. “Some of them may tell us they’re OK, but they’re not.”
7he owner of Orchids of Asia Day Spa, -year-old Hua Zhang, was arrested 7uesday on 2 prostitution and related charges. 3olice in her arrest report said they watched video of her employees performing various sex acts with two do en customers. Her attorney, Gennaro Cariglio -r., had no comment.
Kraft, who made his initial fortune through a packaging company, bought the 3atriots in 1 for 1 2 million to keep the team from moving to St. Louis. He hired Bill Belichick as coach in 2000, and the team later drafted Tuarterback 7om Brady, launching its nearly two decades of success.