MIAMI — The court case is over for the final two defendants busted at the notorious Palm Beach County massage parlor in a scandal that also ensnared New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft last year.
The final two women charged with felonies, Lei Wang, 41, and Shen Mingbi, 60, this week accepted plea deals that call for one year of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine. The women pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count, as prosecutors dropped felony counts alleging they ran a house of prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter.
Two other women charged in the case earlier accepted plea deals.
The plea deals conclude the court cases in the high-profile operation that led to the arrest of Kraft and a host of other men on allegations they solicited prostitution at the spa. The Palm Beach State Attorney's Office in September dropped the misdemeanor cases against Kraft and the other men after courts threw out the key evidence: videos taken by hidden cameras installed by police.
Kraft, as well as a host of other defendants in the series of high-profile prostitution stings, had challenged the legality of the videos, captured by cameras in massage parlors in Palm Beach and Indian River counties. In August, the Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld the decision of a Palm Beach County judge, who last year ruled that police detectives violated constitutional rights against unreasonable searches.
Under the deals struck this week, Mingbi and Wang will receive a "withhold of adjudication," which means a conviction won't show on their records.
Mingbi, who was an alleged masseuse at the spa, had her plea deal ratified in a Zoom court hearing on Monday. She'll also have to forfeit $20,000 to the Jupiter Police Department, according to court records.
Wang entered her signed plea agreement into the court record on Monday, and a judge is expected to ratify it during a Zoom hearing on Wednesday. The Palm Beach State Attorney's Office declined to comment on Tuesday.
