Spa Patrons Illegally Filmed During Prostitution Sting, Class Action Says

A class action lawsuit claims that a South Florida police department violated the privacy of patrons receiving lawful services at a massage parlor while they investigated alleged prostitution occurring at the spa.

The investigation ultimately led to more than 20 men, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, being charged with soliciting prostitution.

An unnamed plaintiff filed the class action lawsuit against the Town of Jupiter Police Department, as well as Detective Andrew Sharp, and Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

Allegedly, Detective Sharp and State Attorney Aronberg began investigating prostitution supposedly occurring at massage parlors in Palm Beach County, and the Orchids of Asia Day Spa was the focus of the investigation.

The customers claim that Detective Sharp became suspicious that the spa was involved in prostitution because patrons allegedly discussed their sexual experiences at the spa in an online forum.

Additionally, the customers say that Detective Sharp further believed that the Orchids of Asia Day Spa was involved in prostitution because only men frequented the spa, despite supposedly providing services to both men and women. Allegedly, Detective Sharp observed this while surveilling the spa in November 2018.

The class action lawsuit claims that Detective Sharp then requested that a health inspector perform a search of the spa without a warrant. The plaintiff alleges that the health inspector interviewed employees and took pictures of their identification.

Allegedly, Detective Sharp continued to surveil the spa and interviewed men who said that they received “low-level sexual services — in particular, manual genital stimulation — in addition to massage, in exchange for money,” and identified employees at the spa who performed such services.

The class action lawsuit claims that Detective Sharp and other police also found tissues soaked with semen in the garbage cans of the spa.

The plaintiff states that the investigation culminated when Detective Sharp issued a false “suspicious package” warning for the spa, as a premise to enter the spa and install video monitoring equipment in the lobby and the rooms in which clients received massages.

Allegedly, the spa and employees were given no notice that Detective Sharp had been given a warrant and were not told that the video recording equipment had been installed.

The customer in the Florida spa class action lawsuit says that on or around Jan. 19, 2019, he entered the spa and received a lawful massage, and was videotaped while undressed in the private massage room. He claims that his privacy was violated because he was videotaped in a place where he had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Allegedly, other consumers also received lawful massages and were videotaped, thus having their privacy violated. The customer says that he is concerned that the videos of them, especially those taken while they are undressed, will be released to the public because the state has received numerous public record requests.

The Florida spa filming class action lawsuit argues that Detective Sharp and State Attorney Aronberg knew that the videos could be publicized and made no effort to protect the customers’ privacy.

The videotaping class action lawsuit was filed on behalf all other customers who were unlawfully filmed during a sting that took place at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa between Jan. 18, 2019 and Jan. 22, 2019.

The customers are represented by Edward M. Mullins, James C. McCarroll, Jordan W. Siev, and Daniel Alvarez Sox of Reed Smith LLP, and by Joseph Tacopina of The Law Offices of Tacopina & Seigel.

The Florida Massage Parlor Prostitution Sting Video Recording Class Action Lawsuit is John Doe v. Town of Jupiter Police Department, et al., Case No. 9:19-cv-80513-DMM, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division.

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