STUART, Fla. _ The number of men facing solicitation charges in Martin County as part of a human trafficking and prostitution crackdown reached 60 on Wednesday.
Martin County authorities said six more men had been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation that targeted at four day spas, two in Hobe Sound and two in Stuart. Authorities say 11 men turned themselves in Tuesday.
In announcing the first results of the multicounty, multiagency probe last week, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said 100 men in all will face charges of soliciting prostitution as the result of monthslong investigation that involved multiple agencies.
In Palm Beach County, 25 men have been charged with similar offenses. The best known of them are Robert Kraft, the owner of the NFL's New England Patriots, and John Havens, the former chief operating officer for Citigroup. They were caught on video paying women for sex acts at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter. Jupiter police revealed their charges Friday.
A spokesman for Kraft, a part-time Palm Beach resident and a close friend of President Donald Trump, categorically denied "that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity." He was caught on video visiting the spa Jan. 19 and 20. The NFL has said it is "seeking a full understanding of the facts" before considering any disciplinary action.
Authorities allege women working in the day spas came to the United States from China for what they thought were legitimate jobs but were forced instead to perform sex acts on clients. They also say the women were largely confined to the spas, eating and sleeping there and often having to surrender their passports.
Those allegations have led authorities to say the spas engaged in human trafficking, defined as the soliciting, recruiting or harboring of another person to exploit him or her for labor, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation. Some have called it a form of modern-day slavery.
To date, no one arrested either in Palm Beach or Martin counties as part of the investigation faces a charge of human trafficking, although Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg indicated at a news conference on Monday that those charges could come at some point.
On Wednesday Martin County authorities announced the arrests of William Bohen, 68, of Stuart; Dennis Dileonardo, 28, of Stuart; Thomas Goins, 39, of Port St. Lucie; Adam Jackson, 34, of Fort Pierce; Robert Kimble, 71, of Tequesta; and Scott Warner, 57, of Port St. Lucie.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office said those arrested Tuesday were Daniel Byrne, 74, of Stuart; Vincent Cashin, 75, of Stuart; Kevin Conor, 60, of Tequesta; Thomas Davis, 72, of Port St. Lucie; Sandipkumar Patel, 47, of Jensen Beach; Anthony Purificato, 48, of Port St. Lucie; John Santamaria, 50, of Port St. Lucie; Gail Walker Schamack, 72, of Stuart; and Mark Updike, 52, of Palm City.
Deputies also identified one of the defendants as Brian Elliott Garner, who surrendered Tuesday at the Martin County Jail. An arrest affidavit gives neither an age nor a community of residence for Garner.
Soliciting a prostitute is a misdemeanor under Florida law. While jail time is possible, sentencing often takes the form of education more than punishment, with the johns required to take an AIDS awareness class, sometimes taught by women or the officers who arrested them. First-time offenders "are very unlikely to get any significant jail time," Aronberg said Monday.
