New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft accuses Jupiter police of going to “astonishing lengths” to mislead a judge into approving the “sneak and peek” warrant that allowed secret cameras in a massage parlor.
Videos from the investigation resulted in misdemeanor charges of soliciting prostitution for Kraft, a 77-year-old billionaire with a Palm Beach address, and 24 other men.
Kraft’s lawyers this week released a copy of the Jan. 15 warrant, enabling the public to see for the first time how the cops got permission for the cameras and what Kraft’s defense calls “eye-popping invasions.”
The lawyers claim police were able to convince a Palm Beach County judge the warrant was justified by alluding to human-trafficking crimes — while the real purpose was going after prostitution. The defense now wants another Palm Beach County judge to declare the warrant unconstitutional and block prosecutors from using the videos in Kraft’s trial.
Police “had no authority whatsoever for something as drastic as ‘sneak and peek’ video surveillance, much less continuous, unbounded video surveillance of naked patrons in private licensed massage parlors,” wrote attorneys Jack Goldberger, Alex Spiro and William Burck.
They contend using a “spying” warrant for prostitution activity was so illegal under federal and state law that the judge could simply rule in Kraft’s favor without a hearing.
Police have said that within a day of installing the cameras, they recorded Kraft paying for sex acts on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20 at Orchids of Asia Day Spa. He was charged a month later at the same time as the other men, along with the owner and manager of the business.
Kraft has since rejected a standard offer for first-time offenders to have the counts dropped under various conditions, including the payment of a fine and performing community service hours.
On Tuesday, Kraft’s lawyers told Judge Leonard Hanser that Kraft will not waive his right to a speedy trial, which would have to take place by late May.
Prosecutors on Wednesday declined to comment on Kraft’s latest court filing, but will be filing a response, spokesman Mike Edmondson said.
Jupiter Police’s public information officer, O’Neil Anderson, could not be reached for comment despite attempts by email and phone.
Jupiter Detective Andrew Sharp applied for the warrant and got it signed by Circuit Judge Howard Coates on the same day, authorizing videotaping for five days, records show.
In his 11-page application for the warrant, Sharp contended that “without the assistance of covert visual, non-audio surveillance,” he would be unable to charge the massage parlor operators with felonies for running a house of prostitution.
“A ‘sneak and peek’ warrant is the best, and only way law enforcement can conclusively say prostitution is occurring inside the business,” Sharp wrote.
Just two days later, police conducted what they later called a “tactical ruse” to evacuate Orchids and go inside to set up the cameras.
Kraft’s lawyers say this was actually a “fake bomb threat.” Police used a “phony suspicious package warning” to clear out the business and put the cameras in the lobby and private massage rooms, the lawyers wrote, blasting it as an “NSA (National Security Agency) style surveillance campaign.”
Kraft’s legal team ripped the warrant for numerous reasons:
— Sneak and peak warrants are legal in rare circumstances, but are definitely not permitted to investigate “mundane” low-level offenses such as prostitution. They blasted it as “categorically out of bounds.”
— Jupiter police’s investigation, which began last October, was entirely about prostitution, unlike an investigation of massage parlors in Martin County that similarly used cameras but also was focused on suspected human trafficking.