Robert Kraft’s Charges Shine a Light on a Human Sex Trafficking in America
While sports can unify and bring people together, there are many problems and injustices not only in this country but across the world that transcend sports, and human sex trafficking is one of the foremost vile and inhumane.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is currently facing two misdemeanor counts of solicitation of prostitution stemming from an ongoing investigation into a sex trafficking ring in the state of Florida.
The owner of the most successful NFL franchise over the past two decades is believed to be one of several men that paid for and participated in sex acts in an establishment where there were women that had been trafficked into this country against their will.
Authorities claimed that they have video evidence of Kraft making two visits to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida where Kraft has a home on two separate occasions before and following the Patriots AFC Championship bout with the Kansas City Chiefs.
If convicted, he could face up to one year in jail, subject to a $5,000 fine, required to partake in 100 hours of community service and mandated to attend human trafficking dangers class.
He and his representatives have categorically denied that he engaged in any illegal activities and has pleaded not guilty. There are some believe that the case pending against him will be difficult for any prosecutor to convict as the women that he received services from were not victims of human trafficking as they are both licensed masseuses and legal residents of Florida.
The well known “rub and tug” establishment is believed to have ties to an international human trafficking and prostitution organization. According to USA Today, some of the women at the spa, as well as five other affiliated properties in the state of Florida are sex slaves from China.
Even if Kraft doesn’t see any jail time or even receives a slap on the wrist for taking part in this deplorable act on the account of any technicality or due to his influence, the bell has already been rung and now more people are aware of the fact that human sex trafficking is alive and operating in America.
Most Americans are familiar with the famous Liam Neeson film “Taken” where he tracks down and rescues his daughter from an Albanian sex trafficking ring in France with his particular set of skills. While that movie was based in Europe, many Americans are blissfully ignorant and blind to the fact that it is happening within our own communities.
These women are being taken from their homes, uprooted from their lives and shipped across the globe to service complete strangers against their will. If it takes the face and public shame of well known and venerated billionaire owner of a professional sports franchise, who is also a generous philanthropist, to wake people up and realize the gravity and severity of this global epidemic that is occurring world ride and has reached American soil, then so be it.
Regardless of the outcome of Kraft’s case, the spotlight that has been placed upon human sex trafficking in the United States can not just fade into obscurity once a jury reaches a verdict or the presiding judge comes to a decision.
