“The monsters are the men [who frequent the massage spas in Florida].”

Sheriff William D. Snyder, in charge of the joint FBI/Martin County, Florida task force investigating massage spas in Florida for human trafficking. The investigation became public when New England Patriots owner and billionaire, Robert Kraft, and former Citigroup president, John Havens, were caught in a sting operation and arrested for illegal activity in the Orchids of Asia spa on Jupiter Island.

The investigation revealed that the women working there (mostly from China) had been brought to the United States by traffickers under the guise of employment and were working off their debt or working in exchange for protecting family members being threatened at home. These young women are moved from spa to spa throughout four Florida counties so that building cases for prosecution becomes difficult. Some of the young women are runaways and some are foster children. They sleep on massage tables and prepare their meals on hot plates. Their passports have been confiscated so that they have nowhere to go or even identification to get them anything or anywhere.

The tales are far more lurid, but Sheriff Snyder is right — if there were no market for their services. . .

Messrs. Kraft and Havens have proclaimed their innocence. Well, they have said that they did nothing illegal. Ah, but the ethical questions remain. The ethical mind determines the effect of one’s actions on others before acting. Look what frequent flyers have wrought on these women. The ethical mind also answers this question: What would the world look like if everyone behaved as I do? The world would apparently look like four counties in Florida, with a massage spa in every strip mall from Miami to West Palm Beach. That is one scenic landscape.

Just these two simple questions could have helped these titans of business find other “hobbies,” or perhaps just more meaningful use of their time. There comes a time, and it should have been reached long before ages 77 and 62, respectively for Kraft and Havens, when the frat house hormones are brought in check. Once we get the seniors under control, we can proceed to the newsrooms, the television shows, Virginia, and Congress if the age restrictions have not cast a wide enough net in reining in bizarre escapades at the expense of others.

About mmjdiary

Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD. The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards. Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio. She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News. In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles. Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
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