Charges dropped against Patriots owner Kraft
Florida prosecutors on Thursday dropped all criminal charges against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, ending a flawed case that began with a police prostitution sting using secret video cameras at a Palm Beach County massage parlor early last year.
State Attorney Dave Aronberg, expressing disappointment in a Zoom session with reporters, said he had no choice but to stop the prosecution after an appellate court last month ruled videos of Kraft and 24 other men charged must be thrown out because the cops used an unlawful warrant.
Aronberg insisted that the Jupiter Police Department “did the right thing in pursuing the investigation” that began with a focus on human trafficking, but produced only prostitution counts. He also said his office doesn’t regret trying to obtain convictions.
“It is not a lack of will that caused us to drop the charges in the spa cases,” he said. “We had been ready to take the cases to the end, but our hand was forced.”
Aronberg also took shots at Kraft’s immense wealth, citing the billionaire businessman’s ability to afford top criminal defense lawyers unlike poorer defendants.
“Individuals with significant means have the ability to hire the best lawyers and investigators to dissect every decision point made by law enforcement to find a weak spot and then exploit it to achieve an acquittal or a dismissal,” Aronberg groused.
“That’s just reality,” he continued. “And sometimes it can be a good thing because it can protect the rights of everyone when police engage in misconduct. Here, the court concluded that police made mistakes but no misconduct, that there was no bad faith or ill motives.”
The Fourth District Court of Appeal sided with Kraft’s arguments that Jupiter police improperly used so-called “sneak-and-peek” warrants to ensnare Kraft, 79, and the others who visited the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
A three-judge panel found the warrants violated a federal law that requires police to minimize the intrusion of the cameras and focus only on crimes. The videotaping at the business lasted for
five days, and wound up recording two women and two men receiving legitimate massages, not just the men paying for sexual services
Upon charging Kraft with solicitation of prostitution, prosecutors said they recorded the part-time Palm Beach resident getting naked and paying in cash for sex acts on Jan. 19, 2019, and Jan. 20, 2019.
But the appeals court called the use of secret cameras “extreme” while insisting that “strict Fourth Amendment safeguards” must be observed.
“To permit otherwise would yield unbridled discretion to agents of law enforcement and the government, the antithesis of the constitutional liberty of people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures,” Judge Cory J. Ciklin wrote, upholding rulings by lower courts.
With the video evidence unusable because of what Aronberg called an “adverse ruling,” the prosecution could not continue to push for convictions against Kraft and the others.
Aronberg said the state attorney general’s office wisely decided not to try to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
He said a loss there could have resulted in limitations on police investigations, banning “hidden cameras entirely in cases of prostitu
The front entrance of the Orchids of Asia Day Spa on Feb. 22, 2019. Prosecutors on Thursday dropped two misdemeanor prostitution counts against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
tion and beyond, possibly impeding law enforcement from secretly recording human trafficking, drug trafficking, theft rings, chop shops and other criminal enterprises.”
When authorities announced prostitution charges from the massage parlor sting 19 months ago, they said they suspected human trafficking, unbeknownst to patrons of the business. Officials pointed to state health department inspections suggesting that sex workers from Asia were
living at the businesses.
“The Orchids of Asia Day Spa was a notorious brothel in a family shopping center, right next to a game room that attracted children,” Aronberg said. “Rich guys from a local country club lined up to receive sex acts throughout the day until the place closed around midnight. Although we could not prove human trafficking beyond a reasonable doubt there was evidence ... massage workers at the spa lived on premises.”
Felony prosecutions
are
continuing against the massage parlor owner, Hua Zhang, and manager Lei Wang. But the videos can’t be used in those cases either, according to the appellate court ruling.
While Kraft emerged victorious in his battle against prosecutors, he’s still fighting to make sure the sex videos never get leaked to the internet.
To that end, his lawyers this week filed a motion asking a Palm Beach County judge to order the destruction of the videos “so that
they can never be subject to any misuse, intentional or otherwise.”
“Nothing short of total, certain destruction will protect (Kraft) and others against further violations of the relevant constitutional rights and injuries,” wrote attorneys Frank A. Shepherd, William Burck and Alex Spiro.
“Absent this relief, the State would continue to possess the videos and hold the means (and certainly the theoretical ability and specter) potentially to turn against (Kraft) and others who were recorded — the forbidden fruits of the (Jupiter Police Department’s) illegal covert surveillance operation,” they added.
Aronberg said Thursday that the courts, not him, will decide what to do with the videos. He said the videos remain evidence in a federal civil lawsuit pursued by anonymous people who said they were recorded getting lawful massages in violation of their privacy rights.
Aronberg and Jupiter police are the targets in that civil case, which he called “an abuse of the court system” because it appears “at least 27, if not all 31 plaintiffs are non-existent.”
“In our view this federal lawsuit by what we consider to be phantom plaintiffs, has been a tactic to pressure our office to dispose of the criminal cases,” he said.
The county’s top prosecutor said he’s not going to be any less aggressive just because of this high-profile defeat.
“Despite the setback today, our office will continue our work to make our community safer by holding accountable those who engage in criminal activity, including sex crimes,” Aronberg said. “The priority of this office remains public safety with the goal of equal justice for all.”