Patriots owner Robert Kraft will not accept a plea deal offered in the Florida day spa case

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

(CNN) Robert Kraft will not accept a plea deal offered by Florida prosecutors in the case against the New England Patriots owner and other men accused of soliciting prostitution at a Jupiter, Florida, day spa, a source familiar with the case told CNN on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have offered to drop misdemeanor charges against Kraft and 24 other men in exchange for fines, community service and an admission they would be found guilty should the case go to trial, according to Mike Edmonson, spokesman for the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office. Edmondson described the offer as standard for first-time offenders and said that none of the offers had been accepted as of Wednesday morning.

The 77-year-old Kraft was among more than 100 people linked last month to several central Florida day spas and massage parlors suspected of being used for prostitution and targeted by law enforcement during a monthslong investigation. Police said Kraft twice visited the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Video footage showed him receiving "paid acts" in a room at the spa and surveillance video shows him being driven to the spa, police Chief Daniel Kerr said last month.

Kraft, who has denied through a spokesman that he committed a crime, has been charged with two counts of solicitation. "We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity," his spokesman said. The charges are second-degree misdemeanors and generally carry no more than a 60-day sentence in county jail, according to Edmondson.

Read more: https://us.cnn.com/2019/03/20/us/robert-kraft-solicitation-offer/index.html

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Full title: Patriots owner Robert Kraft will not accept a plea deal offered in the Florida day spa case, a source says

[Eugene]

1. That's alright.

He seems to be guilty as heck. If he thinks he can beat this charge, let him go down.

[zipplewrath]

3. He's not used to that

He's used to paying others to do that.

[oldsoftie]

17. Ladies & gents, i give you todays winner.

[getagrip_already]

23. He must think he can have the tapes made inadmissible....

I was always suspicious of the legality of those cameras. Since no specific individual was targeted, they in effect violated the rights of anyone who got a legitimate massage (woman included).

Whatever the police told the judge to get that warrant issued, it probably has very wide holes in it. The police usually rely on defendents caving rather than putting up an expensive legal defense. But kraft has enough money to make a very deep and broad discovery effort.

He may just win.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

27. Legitimate massage!

That's pretty funny...…………… why would you assume that happens?

[getagrip_already]

29. because even the police said it did...

They said not all of the people they had under surveillance were charged.

Think about it. They said these places were seeing 100's of customers a week. They ran the operation in 2 locations and arrested 24 men. Even if that number were 200, it still means a lot of people didn't break any laws and were just there for a massage.

How many thousands did they not arrest, and why?

Also, some of the local news reports interviewed woman who went in not knowing what these places were. So who does the police have on tape that never broke the law but who were completely naked?

Just questions. A good lawyer could blow this whole thing out of the water.

Don't be surprised if all charges against all the men get dropped...... The police don't want a hard fought trial over this operation. It won't end well for them.

[GWC58]

26. Kraft seems to think he's made of Teflon, just like his good time buddy

DonCON! 😆

[Hokie]

2. Let the trial go forward

Last edited Wed Mar 20, 2019, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)

Let's see the video evidence introduced. Nothing like watching a 77 year old pervert getting a blow job....not.

[Rural_Progressive]

7. Well that didn't end well for me

Just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[Chin music]

10. +1

Let the trials begin...for all of them.

[Rural_Progressive]

4. We need to start throwing the book

at those of the rich and entitled class who have been buying their way out of trouble for a very long time. Fines won't do it,

LOCK THEM UP!!

[ScratchCat]

5. They admission of guilt

would possibly put him in trouble with the NFL. The State doesn't want to go to trial over this nonsense and I doubt they will waste time and money trying 24 different people for a 2nd degree misdemeanor when the bigger picture was sex trafficking.

Also, it would be really stupid for his attorney to say "we categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity" if there is actually a video clearly showing him receiving sexual favors at the parlor.

[getagrip_already]

24. unless they can get the tapes thrown out.....

That probably will be easier than you think.

This was never about sex trafficking. It was always about running up the body count on arrests. Otherwise they never would have kept the cameras running for 8 months. That put the "trafficked" in continuous peril. For what?

And to rub salt into the wound, there are no actual trafficking charges.

He has a case to have the evidence tossed. He might even have a case against the police for the conduct of the operation. Especially if they lied to the court to get the warrant. They did have a warrant, right? Couldn't have been easy to get.

[RockRaven]

6. So the local prosecutors accidentally charged a billionaire sports pseudocelebrity w/ solicitation

and mistakenly believed they had it on tape, twice? Yeah, I'm sure that happens all the time. After all, *that* is much more common than an old dude getting a rub-and-tug at an Asian massage parlor.

[RockRaven]

11. Why would a prosecutor over-charge a famous billionaire on a bluff? Career suicidality?

I certainly don't presume all prosectors are correct or all defendants are guilty, but the consequences for an ambitious prosecutor playing fast and loose are totally different when the defendant is a famous person of means than when the defendant is an anonymous nobody. Once the cops/prosecutors ID'd Kraft, they knew their case would be under a microscope. And yet they charged him and claimed to have it on tape. It's possible that the prosecutors are morons with no sense of self-preservation, but it seems more likely that Kraft is lying. After all, that lying, in this moment and context, holds no risk whatsoever.

[ScratchCat]

12. Very true

It is also important to point out that NOBODY has accepted the plea, not just Kraft.

Further, what is the importance of having a surveillance video of Kraft "being driven to the parlor" if they have him on tape in a room paying for sex acts? Sounds like they are using the first video to "prove" its him on the other videos in the room. That could mean they don't actually have a video clearly showing Kraft paying for sex acts, but a video of someone they claim/think is Kraft.

[newblewtoo]

22. It could be that

there is a problem with the second video's admissibility. Was the recording equipment placed with proper warrant? I can see any number of issues arising on the second tape, no pun intended.

[Power 2 the People]

13. He'll skate. The wealthy are never held accountable unless they harm other rich people.

[Democrats_win]

14. "It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown!"

But for Robert Kraft, it has turned into the great pumpkin. Bring your arts and Krafts to the show, Sally, because the great pumpkin never shows.

[Power 2 the People]

15. LOL

[IronLionZion]

16. The trafficked women will be punished more than this billionaire

[RhodeIslandOne]

18. He'll use Epstein's scummy lawyer to bury a local municipality

That's what filthy rich Trump worshipers do.

[Blue_Tires]

19. Throw his ass in jail then

these goddamn patriots need to be taught that they are not above the law...

[rickyhall]

25. Just like us, throw his rich ass in jail w/folks like us.

[MissMillie]

38. Does anyone get prison time for a misdemeanor?

I think the NFL can offer a harsher punishment than the legal system. He could lose his team.

[kysrsoze]

20. He's determined to have a happy ending!

[Historic NY]

21. Sure going to be fun seeing the video from inside the tug & rub.

[madville]

28. I don't really want to see that

No one is going to do actual jail time for a first time soliciting offense anyway. They don't have much to lose by fighting it, that's alot of potential work for the ADA to prosecute a misdemeanor.

[MooDrew]

30. Take the case to trial

I don't see what other alternative the prosecution has. These types of charges are almost always plea out because there is no real punishment for the offenders other than the embarrassment of the STD screening, having to sit through the John class and doing some menial labor for community service.

If Kraft wants to be a hardass, let him be a hardass. Even if the tapes get thrown out, they will still likely be made public which means Kraft won't be able to avoid the additional embarrassment or NFL punishment as the NFL doesn't require a conviction. If anything, this approach should make his NFL punishment more severe because he refuses to accept responsibility for his actions. Jim Irsay got a 6 game suspension for a guilty plea in a misdemeanor OWI where he took full reasonability for his actions.


If the tapes are admitted and Kraft loses his bench trial, he can do the 60 days in the country jail as anybody else would.

[Demonaut]

31. We/you do not know if this is a true accusation, that he really did it.

it's salacious but he's a true philanthropist, he was/is a democrat, I think there is more to this story


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kraft

[BumRushDaShow]

32. They have him on video

(from the OP article) -

Video footage showed him receiving "paid acts" in a room at the spa and surveillance video shows him being driven to the spa, police Chief Daniel Kerr said last month.

Doesn't matter what party he is a member of. Folks might recall what happened with Democrat Eliot Spitzer 11 years ago this month and he was the Governor and former AG of NY.

[Demonaut]

33. a paid "act" could just be a massage, I will keep an open mind

It may be a set up, his history does not paint him as one who would bow to trump, it might be a warning.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. "history does not paint him as one who would bow to trump, it might be a warning."

What history have you been reading?

Since you linked to Wikipedia - here is one of the articles in their reference section -

<...>

But what about being buddies with Trump? Kraft and Trump have been friends for a long time, before Trump even thought about one day being the leader of the free world. Trump was often shown on television sitting with Kraft in the owner's suite in Foxborough. So, how does Kraft reconcile his own politics — in addition to living in his home state, which is staunchly Democrat — and his friendship with Trump?

In fact, if the Cowboys are indeed America's Team, then the Patriots are now Trump's Team, even without the approval of Pats fans. The former owner of the New Jersey Generals has all but taken out billboards in New England bragging about how close he is to the Patriots' Big Three. Kraft's loyalty to Trump goes back to when his wife Myra died from cancer in 2011, shortly after the labor deal was done.

"When Myra died, Melania and Donald came up to the funeral in our synagogue, then they came for memorial week to visit with me," Kraft said. "Then he called me once a week for the whole year, the most depressing year of my life when I was down and out. He called me every week to see how I was doing, invited me to things, tried to lift my spirits. He was one of five or six people that were like that. I remember that."

That's why Kraft was at a pre-inauguration dinner with Trump. Seated nearby was Jets owner Woody Johnson, expected to be the ambassador to the United Kingdom. "To be honest, I think we have a real challenge, especially in the inner cities," Kraft said. "Working class people and lower income people, we have to help more. They've gotten hurt over the last decade a lot. We have to create jobs and a vibrant economy that helps those communities throughout America. I really believe and hope that the new administration is going to do that."


https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/robert-kraft-opens-goodell-deflategate-donald-trump-article-1.2958959

[Demonaut]

35. good point but something does not feel right.

[BumRushDaShow]

36. It was probably part of a sting

I remember ABSCAM and that took out all sorts of folks.

If anything, someone like him and other wealthy, can afford to have "private" services at their homes. Why frequent a somewhat "notorious" place?

[Maxheader]

37. NFL needs to follow the NBAs' example with west coast don..

Donald sterling..xenophobic..handjob made to sell the clippers for having
exhibited conduct unbecoming an NBA team owner...

Get rid of craft...take cheater brady with him...