close to the vest out of friendship or loyalty. ron brownstein, jack quinn, thank you. thank you. ahead, women forced to sleep on massage tables, eat off hot plates. disturbing details from that sex trafficking sting that ensnared billionaire patriots owner robert kraft. what does help for heart failure look like?
counts of soliciting prostitution. they discovered suitcases, an unusual amount of food and bedding at the spa and the women that worked there seemed particularly nervous. in the months that followed, investigators discovered that women were all but being held hostage, their passports taken away, according to officials, and they were forced to eat off hot plates and sleep on the massage tables. cnn correspondent polo sandoval joins me right now. so, polo, this is a nightmare of a story, and an investigation. so talk to me more about the details that are being revealed. reporter: you know, fred, it s important to point out here there are still a lot of questions about the fate of robert kraft when it comes to how he will answer to these allegations, particularly to those misdemeanor charges of solicitingf soliciting. these are charges and allegations he continues to deny through a spokesperson.
so while we wait for the answers tomorrow through state officials, we want to talk more about the investigation, specifically what was happening inside these spas, according to investigators. we re standing outside the one that according to authorities was visited at least two times by robert kraft in recent months, as he allegedly was searching for these paid sexual acts. he was not alone. there are roughly a hundred other men searching for this. there were women inside, mainly of chinese origin, who were basically forced to perform sexual acts on so-called johns here. when you look at the descriptions here of what the local sheriff has laid out here, authorities saying that these women basically ate off of food that was cooked on hot plates, as you mentioned a little while ago, and they slept on massage tables here and did not have any reliable transportation here, and essentially forced to perform these acts. i want you to hear directly from
deeply disturbing. the sheriff painted a sobering picture of women forced into sexual labor. it was clear that multiple women were working and living inside the spas. they were cooking on the back steps of the business. they were sleeping in the massage parlor on the massage tables. reporter: sheriff snyder s agency, one of the many involved. the investigation uncovered a multimillion dollar international scheme that went from china to new york and eventually florida s popular treasure coast. at least seven suspected parlor operators have been named along with about 200 accused johns, some more notable than others. i would contend today that the men in the shadows are the monsters in this equation. none of this would happen if
the martin county sheriff as he goes into detail of the nightmares these women were forced to endure. it was clear that multiple women were working and living inside the spas. they were cooking on the back steps of the business. they were sleeping in the massage parlor on the massage tables. they had noa access to transportation. so that really is a big focus here in florida, fred. a lot of the investigation obviously revealing some very disturbing details. and what s interesting, we have had many people stopping by this particular spa here taking selfies, that surreal moment when you consider the dark picture that s been painted by investigators of this massive human trafficking ring. according to investigators, it was just the tip of the iceberg, fred. okay. lots of strange stuff there. polo sandoval, thank you so much. next, pope francis rips catholic priests who sexually