Prosecutors turn up heat on Kraft
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Florida prosecutors just raised the stakes in New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s fight against prostitution charges.
It’s been nearly a year since the 78-year-old parttime Palm Beach resident paid for sex acts at a Jupiter massage parlor likened to a brothel.
But now lawyers for the state are arguing for the first time that Kraft — charged with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution — actually committed a felony when he “purchased prostitution services on multiple days.”
The latest court filing from the attorney general’s office suggests Kraft could face a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, if the state wins its appeal of a lower court order favoring the billionaire.
Elevating multiple misdemeanors to a felony would be an unusual move.
“I literally have never seen that enhancement used in any county,” said veteran criminal defense attorney Jack Fleischman, who is not connected with the litigation. “It has to be rare.”
So, for that matter, is the high-profile Kraft case.
Observers across the country view it as a constitutional test that pits police powers to investigate crimes — specifically the authority to use secret cameras — against individual privacy rights.
Florida is challenging a judge’s order in May that tossed all evidence against Kraft, including sex videos that cops surreptitiously recorded during their sting.
The judge ruled police did not have a lawful “sneakand-peek” warrant when surveillance cameras ran continuously for five days at Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
Kraft took Bentley-chauffeured trips to the business on Jan. 19 and 20, which was the day before and the morning of the American Football Conference Championship game. Reports say he showed a Super Bowl ring to an officer and asked the cop if he was a Miami Dolphins fan.
Kraft emerged as the most well-known figure from undercover investigations of 10 spas around the state. Nearly 300 men were charged overall last February.