New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft visited a Florida massage parlour for sex acts the night before and the morning of his team playing in one of American football’s biggest games, authorities said.

In documents charging him with two misdemeanour counts of soliciting prostitution, prosecutors said it happened before last month’s AFC Championship Game, which he attended in Kansas City.

Police in the town of Jupiter said the 77-year-old was chauffeured to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in a 2014 white Bentley on the evening of January 19, and officers videotaped him engaging in a sex act and then handing over an undetermined amount of cash, according to charging documents released by Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office.

The Orchids of Asia Day Spa
The Orchids of Asia Day Spa (Palm Beach Post/AP)

Investigators said Kraft was back at the spa 17 hours later, arriving at the upscale shopping centre where the spa is located in a chauffeured 2015 blue Bentley, the documents said. He was videotaped engaging in sex acts before paying with a 100 dollar bill and another bill, police said.

Kraft, whose team won the Super Bowl earlier this month, has denied wrongdoing.

The NFL said in a statement that its personal conduct policy “applies equally to everyone in the NFL” and it will handle “this allegation in the same way we would handle any issue under the policy”.

Kraft’s wife, Myra Hiatt Kraft, died in 2011. He has been dating 39-year-old actress Ricki Noel Lander since 2012.

Robert Kraft holds the Vince Lombardi trophy after his team won the Super Bowl
Robert Kraft holds the Vince Lombardi trophy after his team won the Super Bowl (Mark Humphrey/AP)

State Attorney Dave Aronberg said Kraft will be issued a summons similar to a traffic ticket and assigned a day to appear in court.

Most people charged for the first time with soliciting are eligible for a diversion programme where they pay a small fine, perform 100 hours of community service and attend a class where they learn about the dangers of prostitution and how it is often tied to human trafficking.

Kraft is one of hundreds of men charged in recent days as part of a crackdown on prostitution in massage parlours between Palm Beach and Orlando. Ten spas have been closed.

Authorities investigated the parlours for months, gathering enough evidence through observation, interviews with men stopped leaving the spas, waste bin searches and surveillance of their owners.

Judges then issued warrants allowing them to secretly install cameras inside the spas to record what transpired.

Dave Aronberg speaks to the media
Dave Aronberg speaks to the media (Richard Graulich/Palm Beach Post/AP)

Mr Aronberg steered a news conference away from Kraft’s specific case to the larger issue of human trafficking, although no human trafficking charges have been filed against Kraft or any of the other defendants connected to the massage parlours.

“The larger picture, which we must all confront, is the cold reality that many prostitutes in cases like this are themselves victims, often lured to this country with promises of a better life, only to be forced to live and work in a sweat shop or a brothel performing sex acts for strangers,” Mr Aronberg said.

He pointed out that Florida has particularly severe punishments for human trafficking and allows the workers to be treated as victims if they co-operate. He also said the federal government can offer visas for victims who are foreign nationals if they co-operate.

Some of the people charged with operating the massage parlours were born in China and Chinese translators are being used to interview women connected with the businesses, according to court documents.

Authorities have not said how many women worked at the parlours, where they are being housed since the spas’ closures and where they are from.

Before raids began last week, most of the women were living in the spas and were not allowed to leave without an escort, police said.