The type of massage parlor where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft allegedly solicited a prostitute in Florida is part of a widespread national problem. Polaris, a nonprofit organization at works to combat human trafficking, estimates there are more than 9,000 illicit massage operations in the United States — and many of the women who work in them are victims of human trafficking.
The Associated Press reported that Kraft was videotaped twice in a sex act at the massage parlor in Florida, according to police, and he faces two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution. Kraft was one of hundreds of men who have been charged in recent days as part of a crackdown on prostitution allegedly occurring in massage parlors between Palm Beach and Orlando. Ten spas have been closed, and several people, most of them women originally from China, have been charged with running the operation.
It’s a high-profile case, but it’s not uncommon. In 2016 and 2017, two massage parlors were shut down and the owners charged with engaging in sex trafficking operations in Northampton and Hadley.
Read the Gazette’s previous coverage of these illicit spas here:
Northampton police shut down Locust Street spa
City police, health department shut down embattled Pine Spa — again
Sunderland couple denies sex trafficking, placed on $500,000 bail
3 sex trafficking suspects plead not guilty at arraignments
Experts: Desperation often pulls women into sex trafficking operations
Neighbors: We wondered what was happening inside those massage shops