NFL owner Kraft offered plea deal
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Palm Beach County state attorney’s office has offered a plea deal to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other men that would drop charges against them of soliciting prostitution at a Jupiter day spa, a source with knowledge of the offer told The Palm Beach Post.
The deal calls for the men to perform community service, complete an education class about prostitution, pay court costs, get screened for sexually transmitted diseases and admit in court they would have been found guilty at trial.
In exchange, the misdemeanor charge they are facing would be dropped. The men were arrested at Orchids of Asia Day Spa at Indiantown Road and U.S. 1 in Jupiter.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the plea offer Tuesday.
It’s unknown if Kraft, who lives part time on Palm Beach, or any of the other 24 men who were arrested will accept the plea. Several of those men have court appearances scheduled for next week, according to court records.
Kraft has denied any wrongdoing. An attempt to reach Jack Goldberger, Kraft’s West Palm Beach attorney, for comment was not immediately successful.
The arrests are part of a four-county investigation into activities at storefront day spas. Authorities have alleged that spa workers performed sex acts on men, and that women were brought to the United States from China to perform these services after being told they had legitimate jobs at the spas.
The women often were confined to the spas, sleeping and eating there and often being forced to surrender their passports, authorities have said. These allegations have led to accusations that the spas’ owners and managers were involved in human trafficking.