Associated Press
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg asked a judge to preserve video that allegedly shows New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft paying for massage parlor sex, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
A misdemeanor solicitation charge against Kraft was dropped in September after an appeals court ruled in that video evidence couldn’t be used in the case.
Aronberg argues there is still a civil case pending in which the videos could be used as evidence.
“The Office of the State Attorney cannot legally or ethically agree to the destruction of evidence relevant to this known, pending litigation,” Aronberg said in the court filing.
Kraft’s attorney asked the appeals court judge to order the video be destroyed so it can’t be released to the public.
Police say they recorded Kraft, a widower, paying for sex acts at a Jupiter spa on consecutive days in January 2019. Kraft pleaded not guilty but issued a public apology for his actions.
If not for the pending lawsuit, Aronberg said he doesn’t want the videos.
“To be abundantly clear, the Office of the State Attorney has no interest in maintaining possession of, or releasing to the public, any of the surveillance videos through these prosecutions,” the filing said.
The charges against Kraft were announced in Feb. 2019 after an investigation into the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter. Kraft lives in Massachusetts but has a second residence in Palm Beach and is a frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago.
Kraft allegedly visited the spa on two occasions. One incident in question took place the night before the Patriots defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in February to advance to Super Bowl LIII. He has overseen the Patriots as they became one of the most successful teams in the National Football League.
The spa was shut down following a months-long investigation.
___
Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
