There’s a growing group of people who say they are ready to sue over being videotaped while getting a lawful massage at a business investigated for prostitution.
The videos were collected by police in a sting that wound up ensnaring New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
The controversy widened last week when a man known only as “John Doe” filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Jupiter police department and State Attorney Dave Aronberg.
On Monday, lawyers asked the court to change the litigation to a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 31 people who claim their right to privacy was violated. None of those individuals was charged with any wrongdoing from their visits to the Orchids of Asia Spa from Jan. 18 to Jan. 22.
But they learned that their massages were recorded through secret cameras that cops planted in the business, the lawsuit states.
This happened despite “the customers’ reasonable expectations that their receiving a private service in a private setting would remain that way,” the attorneys for John Doe wrote.
They are seeking unspecified money damages, to block the public release of the videos, and to order the police and prosecutors to “permanently and completely destroy, any and all video, audio, photographic, or other recordings … made inside the Spa.”
Lawyers for the police department and prosecutors have not yet filed responses with the U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach.
A Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge has issued a temporary protection order through at least April 29, which prevents authorities from releasing the videos of Kraft or any of the other people charged in the case.
Kraft’s lawyers argue the release of the videos would violate his right to a fair trial on two misdemeanor charges of soliciting prostitution.
jcortega@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6527 or Twitter @JuanSunSentinel