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Patriots' Robert Kraft Wants Video of His Alleged Spa Visit Thrown Out

Patriots' Robert Kraft Wants Video of His Alleged Spa Visit Thrown Out

(Bloomberg) -- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft asked a judge to toss out video evidence in a criminal case accusing him of soliciting prostitution.

Kraft’s lawyers said videos of his visits to a Florida day spa were the "fruits of an unlawful sneak-and-peek search warrant," which enabled "the most drastic, invasive, indiscriminate spying conceivable by law," according to a filing Thursday. Police have said Kraft and other johns were captured on tape committing the misdemeanor, punishable by as long as a year in prison.

"Because we do not live in a police state and our government answers to the rule of law, suppression of illegally-obtained evidence is the correct and essential remedy," Kraft’s attorneys said in the motion in state court in Palm Beach County.

Police say their investigation into the Florida day spa is part of a broader probe into human trafficking that is said to span from China to Florida to the Northeast. Kraft is alleged to have gone on two occasions to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter.

"Beyond outright misrepresentations, law enforcement has been trading off innuendo about ‘human trafficking,’" the motion said, claiming that authorities have backpedaled on the connection between the Orchids of Asia and human trafficking.

A spokesman for the county’s state attorney, Dave Aronberg, declined to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Levin in Miami at jlevin20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net

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