Florida prosecutors have reportedly offered to drop charges in a plea deal to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other men involved in the prostitution\u2026<\/b>
\nFlorida prosecutors have reportedly offered to drop charges in a plea deal to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other men involved in the prostitution case\u2014but only if they concede that they would have been proven guilty at a trial.
As part of the deal, Kraft and the 24 other men charged with soliciting prostitution must also perform 100 hours community service, attend an educational class on the dangers of prostitution and pay $5,000 per count, spokesman Mike Edmondson of The Palm Beach State Attorney\u2019s Office said on March 19.
Dave Aronberg, the State Attorney for Palm Beach County noted that the offer was not out of the ordinary. Kraft himself was charged with two counts last month.
\u201cThe offer of a deferred prosecution agreement with several conditions to first-time offenders is standard in cases like this,\u201d he said on March 19 on Twitter.
If anyone accepts the offer, the charges of misdemeanor soliciting prostitution will be dropped. Edmondson said no one has accepted the plea deal so far. The plea deal was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The tactics used by the police in Jupiter, Florida, to obtain search warrants for the investigation have raised questions from some legal experts, the Journal reported. Police said they intended to stop a growing human trafficking problem, but no one was charged with human trafficking in the case. Prosecutors\u2019 affidavits have also not detailed any evidence of human trafficking at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
Yang Li, the owner of the Chinese massage parlor also has connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
\u201cThe police are making this case that this is a major human trafficking ring, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so serious,\u201d said Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor and managing partner of Tucker Levin, PLLC who is not connected to the case, according to the Journal. \u201cThe fact that they had cameras installed in the locations for so long somewhat undermines the claim that there was an extraordinary danger to the people working in the establishment.\u201d
As part of a crackdown on illicit massage parlors and human trafficking about 300 men were charged and 10 massage parlors closed in multiple counties between Palm Beach and Orlando. Several operators and employees have also been charged.
Police say Kraft visited the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, twice in late January just before he flew to Kansas City to see the Patriots defeat the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
According to police records, the 77-year-old Kraft was chauffeured to the massage parlor in a 2014 white Bentley on the evening of Jan. 19, where officers say they secretly videotaped him engaging in a sex act and then handing over an undetermined amount of cash.
Investigators said Kraft returned 17 hours later, arriving at the upper-middle class shopping center where the spa was located in a chauffeured 2015 blue Bentley, the documents said. Kraft, who is worth $6 billion, was videotaped engaging in sex acts before paying with a $100 bill and another bill, police said. Hours later, he was in Kansas City for the game.
Kraft has denied wrongdoing. The NFL has not taken any action against him but has said its personal conduct policy \u201capplies equally to everyone in the NFL\u201d and it will handle \u201cthis allegation in the same way we would handle any issue under the policy.\u201d
The Associated Press contributed to this report<\/p>\n