Page 19 - aruba-today-20190223

A19
SPORTS Saturday 23 February 2019

Patriots owner Robert Kraft

accused of soliciting prostitute

By TERRY SPENCER and Under league policy, play- cy has been involved in the
JOSHUA REPLOGLE ers, owners, coaches and sex-trafficking investigation,
Associated Press other employees can be told reporters earlier this
JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Robert punished for “conduct det- week that the prostitutes
Kraft, the billionaire owner rimental to the integrity of are victims who have been
of the New England Patri- and public confidence in” trapped into the trade.
ots, faces charges of solicit- the NFL. “These girls are there all
ing a prostitute after he was “Ownership and club or day long, into the evening.
twice videotaped in a sex league management have They can’t leave and they In this June 7, 2018, file photo, New England Patriots owner Robert
act at a shopping-center traditionally been held to a are performing sex acts,” Kraft speaks with reporters following an NFL football minicamp
practice, in Foxborough, Mass.
massage parlor in Florida, higher standard and will be Currey said, according to Associated Press
police said Friday. subject to more significant TCPalm. “Some of them
The 77-year-old Kraft de- discipline,” the policy says. may tell us they’re OK, but
nied any wrongdoing. The The Patriots won the Super they’re not.”
case comes amid a crack- Bowl this month over the The owner of Orchids of
down on sex trafficking Los Angeles Rams for their Asia Day Spa, 58-year-old
from Palm Beach to Orlan- sixth NFL championship in Hua Zhang, was arrested
do in which police planted the past 18 seasons, mak- Tuesday on 29 prostitution
cameras in massage par- ing them the most success- and related charges. Po-
lors. ful team in pro sports during lice in her arrest report said
Kraft was not immediately that span. Before the Super they watched video of her
arrested. Jupiter police Bowl, several retired NFL employees performing var-
said a warrant will be issued players appeared in a pub- ious sex acts with two doz-
and his attorneys will be lic service announcement en customers. Her attorney,
notified. They said details decrying sexual exploita- Gennaro Cariglio Jr., had
about the misdemeanor tion and human trafficking no comment.
charges against the owner in Atlanta, the host city. Kraft, who made his initial
of the Super Bowl cham- Kraft lives in Massachusetts fortune through a pack-
pion team will not be re- and has a home in the aging company, bought
leased until next week. Palm Beach area. Though the Patriots in 1994 for $172
Hundreds of arrest warrants he is a Democrat, he is million to keep the team
have been issued in recent friendly with President Don- from moving to St. Louis. He
days as a result of the six- ald Trump and a frequent hired Bill Belichick as coach
month investigation, and guest at Trump’s Mar-a-La- in 2000, and the team later
more are expected. Ten go club. Kraft’s wife, Myra drafted quarterback Tom
spas have been closed, Hiatt Kraft, died in 2011. He Brady, launching its nearly
and several people have has been dating 39-year- two decades of success.
been taken into custody old actress Ricki Noel Land- In 2007, the Patriots got
on sex trafficking charges. er since 2012. in trouble for filming other
Jupiter Police Chief Daniel “Well it’s very sad. I was teams’ signals. The NFL
Kerr said he was shocked very surprised to see it. He’s fined the team $250,000
to learn that Kraft, who is proclaimed his innocence, and Belichick $500,000. In
worth $6 billion, was paying totally,” Trump said at the 2014, Brady was accused
for sex inside a shopping- White House on Friday. of deflating game footballs
center massage parlor, In a statement, Kraft’s rep- to gain a better grip. He
the Orchids of Asia Day resentatives said they “cat- served a four-game sus-
Spa. “We are as equally egorically deny that Mr. pension, and the Patriots
stunned as everyone else,” Kraft engaged in any illegal were fined $1 million.
Kerr said. activity.” Kraft was not implicated in
Most people charged for The spa Kraft allegedly vis- either scandal.q
the first time with solicit- ited is in a busy, upper-mid-
ing a prostitute in Florida dle-class shopping center
are allowed to enter a di- with neighbors that include
version program, said at- a dentist, a real estate of-
torney David Weinstein, a fice, surf and bike shops
former prosecutor. Kraft and a Publix supermarket.
would probably have to After hearing about the ar-
perform 100 hours of com- rest, Brian Rubino, a Patriot
munity service and attend fan who lives nearby, went
a course on the harmful ef- by the spa wearing a team
fects of prostitution and sex jersey. He said Kraft made
trafficking, he said. a mistake, but he could see
The arrest could also get how it might happen.
Kraft in trouble with the NFL, “A 77-year-old man, lost his
which in a statement said wife, who knows? I see how
only that it is “aware of the you can end up in a place
ongoing law enforcement like this,” Rubino said.
matter and will continue to Vero Beach police Chief
monitor developments.” David Currey, whose agen-