Florida appeals court says Robert Kraft massage-parlor videos were illegally obtained

Police hidden-camera video footage that purports to show New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft engaged in sex acts at a Jupiter massage parlor was illegally obtained and cannot be used as evidence, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld the decision of a Palm Beach County judge, who last year ruled that police detectives violated Kraft’s constitutional right against unreasonable searches.

Kraft, as well as a host of other defendants in a series of high-profile prostitution stings, had challenged the legality of the videos, captured by cameras that were secretly installed in a string of massage parlors in Palm Beach and Indian River counties.

Prosecutors could appeal the ruling to the Florida Supreme Court. If the ruling stands, Palm Beach prosecutors may well have to dismiss the misdemeanor charges against Kraft. Prosecutions against spa owners and employees could still happen if the state feels there is enough evidence to prove felony charges.

In Kraft’s case, armed with a search warrant, Jupiter police investigators surreptitiously installed video cameras in the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Those cameras captured over 100 hours of video of Kraft and several other men allegedly engaging in sex in the back room of the spa.

Kraft’s car was pulled over after he left the spa in 2019, and he was charged with misdemeanor prostitution charges, an embarrassing headline for one of the NFL’s marquee owners.

But last year, Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser ruled that the surveillance cameras infringed on the rights of other clients, who were breaking no laws and who expected privacy while receiving massages. Even though detectives got a search warrant, they did nothing to explain how they would “minimize” the intrusion on innocent people, he ruled.

The appeals court agreed, pointing out that in one “egregious” case, Vero Beach police left cameras running continuously for 60 days.

“Other innocent spa clients may have been recorded nude — or partially undressed — on those days. Those innocent clients potentially live with the knowledge that nude videos of themselves are preserved on a server somewhere with unknown accessibility,” the appeals court ruled. “In our ever increasingly digital world filled with hackers and the like, such awareness renders the surveillance a particularly severe infringement on privacy.”

The videos, which are normally public record, have been sealed by judicial order as legal wrangling continues.

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 1:51 PM.