NFL News: Pats Owner Gets Court Order To Quash Illegal Videos

New England Patriots owner dodged a bullet when he was cleared of misdemeanor charges of solicitation of prostitution last September.

However, the illegal surveillance footage of him at a spa was still in existence. U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II had ordered the said videos to be destroyed immediately.

Court records showed that the ruling was signed last Friday.

"A three-judge panel found the warrants violated a federal law that requires police to minimize the intrusion of the cameras and focus only on crimes. The videotaping at the business lasted for five days, and wound up recording two women and two men receiving legitimate massages, not just the men paying for sexual services," a statement read in a report from the Sun-Sentinel.

It will be recalled in a previous post, Florida prosecutors had planned to use the audio and video surveillance against the 79-year-old for allegedly paying for massage parlor sex in January 2019.

This move was blocked and prosecutors ended up dropping the charges, the New York Times reported.

“Without these videos, we cannot move forward with our prosecutions, and thus we are ethically compelled to drop the cases against all the defendants,” Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg stated.

However, the worst was far from over. Kraft’s dream team of attorneys worked to convince multiple judges that these tapes should be destroyed since they were recorded illegally.

"Considering that the videos never should have been created according to judicial rulings that are binding and conclusive, the videos should be destroyed so that they can never be subject to any misuse, intentional or otherwise," a statement from court documents read.

With the case settled earlier this month, there was no reason not to destroy the videos with the series of events.

As for the Patriots, they continue to pick up the pieces after being eliminated last month from the NFL race. Their postseason appearance got snapped following a loss to the Miami Dolphins, 22-12.

It will be an interesting offseason for the Pats who tried to go with Cam Newton. Things did not turn out well as New England continues to rebuild following the departure of Tom Brady who went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.