2 Women Plead Guilty In Florida Prostitution Sting Involving Robert Kraft

Two of the four women facing charges in relation to a Florida day spa prostitution sting that also involved New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly accepted plea deals this week, according to local circuit court records.

Lei Wang, 41, and Shen Mingbi, 60, both pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting another to commit prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, according to Palm Beach County circuit court records obtained by MassLive.com. The two women were each given a $5,000 and ordered to complete a total of 100 hours of community service.

Kraft had previously faced a misdemeanor charge, which was later dropped in 2020 after courts blocked the use of a surveillance video footage that allegedly showed him paying for sex at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. The Patriots owner had pleaded not guilty, but also issued a public apology after his name was included on a list of 25 individuals facing charges in connection to the sting.

Two other women who worked at the spa, Hua Zhang, 59, and Lei Chen, 45, had previously accepted plea deals in court. Zhang was previously charged with two misdemeanors and pleaded guilty in November; Chen pleaded guilty in February to eight counts of offering to commit prostitution.

Charges to the four women, Kraft and others were initially handed down in February 2019 following an investigation into massage parlors in several counties, which included the installation of video cameras in the Orchids of Asia spa's lobby and rooms. Local police said surveillance footage showed Kraft and the other men charge participating in sexual acts with the women for pay.

The recordings were later thrown out after a country court judge ruled that the installation of the cameras invaded on the privacy of other customers who received legal massages at the spa and an appeals court sided with the judge.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg dropped charges against Kraft and other male customers in September claiming that there was not enough evidence to convict the men accused of committing sexual acts without the surveillance video footage.

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