Judge says no release of Kraft video until after April 29 hearing
Florida prosecutors had announced that they intend to release surveillance footage from inside the Orchids of Asia Day Spa where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and dozens of others allegedly paid for sex.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft flaunted one of his Super Bowl rings and discussed football with an officer when he was stopped in Florida in January after he allegedly paid to receive sex acts, court records state.
On Jan. 19, Kraft, 77, is said to have asked the officer if he rooted for the Miami Dolphins and mentioned that he was going to Kansas City for the AFC Championship Game the following day. The Kansas Chiefs played Kraft’s Patriots on Jan. 20. The officer, who pulled over Kraft’s Bentley, was not aware of who the billionaire was when he stopped him, the Boston Globe reported.
“Robert Kraft was very polite and respectful during the whole process . . . [he] asked the [officer] if he was a Dolphins fan,’’ prosecutors wrote in the document, according to the Boston Globe. “He then told the officer he was the owner of the Patriots . . . and showed his Super Bowl ring.”
ROBERT KRAFT VIDEO EVIDENCE TO REMAIN SEALED FOR TIME BEING, JUDGE RULES
Police “conducted the traffic stop for the sole purpose of identification,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The following day, Kraft returned to the massage parlor just before traveling to Kansas City for the game, records showed.
Florida prosecutors provided the new details on Friday before a hearing between Kraft’s attorneys and Palm Beach prosecutors. The billionaire’s lawyers asked a judge to throw out a video police said shows Kraft paying for sex at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla. Kraft's high-profile legal team spent six hours Friday questioning the lead detective in the massage parlor prostitution sting that resulted in Kraft being charged with misdemeanor solicitation of a prostitute. The hearing is scheduled to continue Tuesday.
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Kraft and 24 other men were charged with paying for sex acts at the spa. Kraft, who was not in court Friday, has pleaded not guilty to paying for sex twice but has also publicly apologized for his behavior. Police secretly installed cameras at the massage parlor in what authorities initially said was an investigation into human trafficking. Prosecutors have since said they found no evidence of trafficking at the spa. Kraft’s lawyers argued the cameras were installed illegally in the spa.
Earlier this week, Circuit Judge Leonard Hanser ruled that video purporting to show Kraft paying to receive sex acts from a worker should not be made public until after the case either goes to trial or is resolved in some other way.
Fox News’ Samuel Chamberlain and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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