Report: Investigation That Nabbed Robert Kraft Has Bigger Bombshell To Come
The internet and the NFL faced absolutely bombshell news Friday morning that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged in Jupiter, Florida, with soliciting prostitution.
The 77-year-old financial architect behind the Patriots’ rise from pro football laughingstock to a team that has won six Super Bowls faces misdemeanor charges after police say he was caught on camera twice receiving a sex act as part of an illicit prostitution sting at a massage parlor.
Kraft was just one of over two dozen people being charged.
Details of the charges remain under wraps, but authorities say more information will be released next week, according to The Associated Press.
Kraft’s wife, Myra Hiatt Kraft, died in 2011, and Kraft has been dating Ricki Noel Lander, a woman who at 39 is nearly half his age, since 2012.
NFL owners are held to the same personal conduct policy as players, so Kraft is likely to face some sort of punishment.
“The NFL is aware of the ongoing law enforcement matter and will continue to monitor developments,” the league said via statement.
The last time an owner was officially disciplined by the league over personal conduct was in 2014, when Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay got hit with a six-game suspension and a $500,000 fine after being arrested on drug possession and DUI charges.
ESPN reported that Kraft might avoid jail time under Florida’s first-time offender program, according to former prosecutor David Weinstein.
Under the program, solicitors do 100 hours of community service and take a course educating them on the dangers not just to the individual prostitutes and the men who risk their reputation by patronizing them, but to society at large as the “world’s oldest profession” contributes to human trafficking and victimization of vulnerable women.
Believe it or not, this could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Adam Schefter went on ESPN and touched off a powder keg of speculation when he reported that Kraft “is not the biggest name” who got caught by the prostitution sting.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter on the Florida prostitution sting: “There are people down there in that area I’m told who say this story is going to heat up and get a lot worse…I’m also told that Robert Kraft is not the biggest name involved down there”pic.twitter.com/BZTRkabUYi
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 22, 2019
As Michael David Smith of NBC Sports asked, what is stopping the authorities, who have already name-checked Bob Kraft, from releasing the “more famous” person’s name?
And furthermore, just who’s out there who could make Bob Kraft look like a comparative nobody?
I won’t even try to answer that.
But if I said I didn’t have popcorn and an eye on the comments …
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