Cops and prosecutors have become so used to courts sucking their dicks and reporters licking their boots that they seem to have developed a pathological level of overconfidence in their own lies and depredations. Any wholly-sane person with a particle of common sense would realize that it’s going to be harder to pin any kind of crime, much less a consensual one, on a billionaire, and yet nobody involved in the massage-parlor raids which ensnared Robert Kraft seems to have considered what a bad idea it was to try to pretend that a well-liked 77-year-old man with no criminal record was some kind of violent psycho because he paid for a hand job from a middle-aged woman. Instead, we were treated to the spectacle of a pompous sheriff strutting about for the cameras, vomiting out racist sex fantasies and bizarre nonsense about “zombie sex slaves” while prosecutors demanded that Kraft and literally hundreds of other victims of the pogroms perjure themselves by swearing under oath that the cops’ sexual fantasies were true and submitting to a humiliating combination of brainwashing and slavery (“john school” and “community service”). As any non-megalomaniac could’ve predicted, Kraft and most of the others turned them down flat and demanded jury trials while the whole “sex trafficking” narrative unraveled in record time and the Martin County sheriff’s office was revealed in the press as a hotbed of corruption, including many bogus arrests. But sociopathic manbabies used to getting their way don’t back down when confronted by opposition that would cause the wise to think twice; instead they doubled down, attempting to get back at people who dared assert their Constitutional right to a trial by threatening to release the illegally-obtained surveillance videos:
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office has announced its intention to make the surveillance videos of Kraft, and all other suspects, available to the public. Kraft’s lawyers have strenuously opposed the release of this material, but media companies and prosecutors have pushed back, contending that since the investigation is over, the Florida Sunshine Law guarantees the public access to these records…Kraft’s legal team has filed a pair of motions seeking to suppress the video. One motion holds that the videos should remain private because “the Jupiter Police Department deems the masseuses who are alleged to have performed the sex acts to be victims of a sexual offense”…
The government quickly countered by basically admitting that it lied, and the women were just plain old dirty whores:
“All of the masseuses who engaged in acts of prostitution in the Orchids of Asia Spa and who have been identified are being charged with felonies and misdemeanors,” [state attorney Greg] Kridos wrote in response to that motion. [But] the second defense motion seeks to get the video thrown out out on the grounds that [pig] Andrew Sharp…[intentionally] lied about suspected human trafficking in order to get a warrant for cameras at the spa…
The attorneys for the other charged men quickly followed suit, and a judge responded accordingly:
…Florida Judge Leonard Hanser agreed to temporarily seal the footage of [patrons at]…Orchids of Asia spa…Kraft…[is] fighting the disclosure…And…lawyers for other solicitation defendants…filed a joint motion seeking to prevent the public release of imagery from the hidden cameras…
Nearly three dozen men and women have filed a federal class-action lawsuit accusing Florida authorities of unlawfully videotaping them as they received legal massages…The lawsuit by 31 John and Jane Does alleges that Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, the Jupiter Police Department and the case’s lead detective violated their rights to privacy…None of the 31 has been charged with a crime…It seeks unspecified monetary and punitive damages and to have the video recordings blocked from public release and ultimately destroyed. “It is horrific when you think about the scenario,” said [lead attorney] Joseph Tacopina…“It is akin to going to a bathroom. You are in a state of undress and you are being surreptitiously recorded and that recording is now subject to disclosure and being disseminated around the internet. It is an abomination of any form of privacy rights and constitutional rights”…
And how did the cops react to all this? By arresting another of the women they called “victims” and robbing her blind:
A woman accused of performing an illegal sex act on…Robert Kraft…is now under arrest. 58-year-old Shen Mingbi was booked…and…[cops stole her] safety deposit box at Bank of America [that] contained approximately $43,800…a judge set her bond at $5,000…[with the condition that she] can’t [support herself by] work[ing] in [her own profession]…and also must surrender her passport and any travel documents…
Oh, and make that four lawsuits:
…attorneys for [arrested sex workers] Lei Wang and…Hua Zhang…asked a judge to hold the Jupiter Police Department and Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office responsible for…trying to leak the Kraft surveillance video to TheBlast.com…
Yes, in an act of petulance that’s hard to fathom even by the abysmal ethics of prosecutors, they tried to disobey a judge and release the videos anyhow:
…when the police admitted months later that no human trafficking had occurred, it was too late. They had tied Kraft to the despicable crime of sex trafficking and then simply moved on. No corrections were issued on any of these stories. Having spread this vicious lie…the state attorney moved on to other methods of torment…Kneel and confess guilt, or we will release embarrassing footage of you…Kraft’s attorneys have, so far, successfully blocked the release. But on [Good] Friday, those attorneys said that the video had been leaked and was now being shopped around to various websites…
Great post. I did a search for “Jupiter, Florida,” where this “crime” took place, and here is what came up:
“The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Jupiter is 1 in 48. Based on FBI crime data, Jupiter is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to Florida, Jupiter has a crime rate that is higher than 49% of the state’s cities and towns of all sizes.”
So, with all that crime going on, the local cops decided to spend time and money investigating consensual sex acts between adults — and possibly violating the Fourth Amendment while doing it. If this was the private sector, these cops would be fired for acting irresponsibly. If any law should be passed it’s one that should require cops in high crime districts to prioritize their resources toward preventing crime with actual victims.
Cops have totally gone off the leash. Brava, Maggie, for keeping us informed of how batshit things have gotten.
“Who cares if he gets abused by the justice system? But that’s exactly backward. If this is happening to this rich, prominent man, with access to the best lawyers and p.r., what happens to the rest of us?”
As per usual, very well said.
Those fat pigs who are tormenting Kraft and others are a blight on society. At the very least, they should be tossed out of positions of authority. Probably they should also be prosecuted for their surreptitious recording on bogus pretext.
Meanwhile, if any of them wonder why informed citizens loathe and despise cops, all they need to do is look in the mirror.
This entire so called investigation makes no sense. The amount of taxpayer money and resources spent on possible handjobs being given by 60 year old women doesn’t seem cost effective. There must be another motive for this operation. Over staffed police department doing make work to justify department payroll? I think the term human trafficking is the soup da jour crime of female run law enforcement departments today. I don’t know but I would bet there is a woman ram rodding this fiasco. Agenda driven. I see 60 thousand people a month trying to get into this country illegally. If things were so bad here as these police would have you believe- why isn’t anyone leaving the country? The operators of the spa should have just applied for a movie permit just like the porn business. All legal. Women being filmed providing sexual favors for men and being financially compensated for it. But what do I know?