March 19, 2019
Florida prosecutors have offered to drop misdemeanor prostitution solicitation charges against two dozen defendants including Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft, if they agree to conditions including an admission that authorities had enough evidence of their guilt, authorities said.
Kraft, according to a person familiar with the Kraft legal strategy, would also be required to appear in a Palm Beach courthouse to publicly resolve the case against him, something that is contrary to the usual practice for misdemeanor cases in the Palm Beach courthouse.
Kraft has not yet decided whether to accept the offer from State Attorney Dave Aronberg’s office, said the person who asked not to be identified by name.
Aronberg spokesman Mike Edmondson said the offer has been made to each of the defendants nabbed in a January sting at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla. It’s a standard deal for first-time offenders, Edmondson said.
Letters were sent out Monday to Kraft and the other defendants offering deferred prosecution in exchange for acknowledging that they could be convicted, according to Edmondson. Through a spokesman, Kraft has previously denied engaging in any illegal activity.
Terms of the proposed deal were first reported by Wall Street Journal.
According to court records, Kraft, 77, allegedly paid for a sexual encounter at a Jupiter, Fla., spa on Jan. 20, just hours before his team won the AFC Championship game.
It was the second time in two days Kraft had visited the massage parlor, which was among 10 area spas targeted in a major crackdown on human trafficking and prostitution. On both occasions, the sexual acts were captured on video cameras that police had installed, according to court records.
Kraft and nearly 200 other men were swept up in a sprawling law enforcement investigation of Florida massage parlors that provided sexual services from women who were forced to live in the spas and perform sex acts on eight or more men a day, authorities have said.
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