On the same day the New England Patriots won the AFC championship in January, Florida officials allege team owner Robert Kraft visited a South Florida massage parlor and paid for sex acts. According to court documents released this week, he filed a written plea of not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of solicitation of prostitution.
Palm Beach County state prosecutor David Aronberg said we need to have a “larger conversation” about the other crimes often associated with prostitution.
“Those who think this is a victimless crime, that’s an old way of thinking. It’s missing the reality, the reality that human trafficking is stealing someone’s freedom for profit,” said Aronberg.
Investigators said Kraft arrived at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in a Bentley on January 20. Surveillance video captured him paying cash at the front door, walking to another room, hugging a worker and removing his clothes before lying face up on the table. Police say cameras then show the woman performing a sex act on Kraft.
The 77-year-old billionaire is among hundreds of men charged in a larger investigation into possible human trafficking at massage parlors located across South Florida.
Defense attorney Richard Kibbey represents at least a dozen men facing similar charges.
“To capture men and women disrobing, total nudity, receiving intimate massages, to go after a misdemeanor case I think a lot of judges would have a problem with that,” Kibbey said.
Kibbey said that if the goal was to shut down these massage parlors, they could have sent an undercover cop in.
“We’re not sure any crime was committed on tape or otherwise, because from the fact pattern we’re hearing over and over and over, people went in for massages, some received something they didn’t expect, they didn’t pay for, they didn’t bargain for, they didn’t want. Is that a crime? We don’t think so,” Kibbey said.
Advocates say human traffickers are known to use coercion and force to keep women against their will, often in plain sight.
Nicole Bishop, director of victims services for Palm Beach County, said one of the warning signs is people living in storefronts.
“If they’re not allowed to move about freely, that they have to ask someone else’s permission to come and go. And people who just don’t look like their needs are being tended to,” said Bishop.
If found guilty of solicitation of protection, Kraft could face a year in jail, a $5,000 fine and community service. But the state attorney said first-time offenders don’t usually serve jail time.
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