When news moved over the wire that New England Patriots owners Robert Kraft had been charged with soliciting prostitution in Florida, I guffawed a little and cracked a joke.

“Kraft sure knows how to celebrate a Super Bowl win.”

I have an admitted cynical streak and nothing shocks me anymore.

But when I popped home for lunch I turned on ESPN and, of course, Suzy Kolber and NFL yappers were talking about the case. What struck me was how many times they almost apologized for having to even address the development — Kolber squirmed as she called the subject “uncomfortable.”

Former Patriot Tedy Bruschi gave a dutiful soliloquy about what a wonderful guy and owner Kraft is.

After my initial guffaw, a couple more serious points.

If any NFL player were caught up in the same mess, the tone of coverage would be far different — I daresay presented and discussed with a salacious gleam in the collective eye. But because the news involved the 77-year-old benevolent, billionaire NFL owner whose team sits at the pinnacle of the league, the deference was embarrassing.

Kraft will get — and deserves — his day in court. He has been charged with misdemeanor offenses that have not been proven and as of this writing he firmly declared his innocence.

But more than one NFL player has paid a high penalty in the court of NFL and public opinion, particularly in the case of real or alleged mistreatment of women, even if their respective cases never made it into a courtroom. At least in the initial hours of the story breaking, the double-standard treatment was clear.

MEANWHILE, one of the ESPN talking heads rushed to point out that Kraft was merely charged with misdemeanor soliciting prostitution. I’m paraphrasing here, but the message was, “It’s not like he was involved in human trafficking.”

Again, Kraft hasn’t been convicted of anything, but the strip mall massage parlor in Florida, where he is alleged to have paid for sex acts, is just the kind of place where human trafficking, sickeningly, occurs.

Ten spas were shut down in Orlando, Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast after a several months of investigation revealed women there were in “sexual servitude,” according to arrest records. At Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, where Kraft allegedly paid for sexual services caught on tape, women — many of them from China — lived in the spa and were not permitted to leave, the Martin County sheriff reported.

Writing for USA Today about the case, Siddharth Kara, an author and expert on modern slavery, notes, “The evidence indicates that Chinese women were recruited and transported to the United States under the false promise of securing legitimate jobs, only to be held captive at the spas and coerced to transact for commercial sex.”

He also writes, “Sex trafficking generates annual profits of nearly $100 billion, according to the International Labour Organization, making it the most profitable form of slavery the world has ever seen. Under the United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act, sex trafficking involves the recruitment or transfer of a person; through force, fraud, or coercion; for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.”

So on the one hand, someone like Kraft could be looked upon as a pathetic “john” who, to his supreme personal embarrassment, got caught in a local vice sting.

On the other, someone convicted in such a case could surely be seen as aiding and abetting international human and sex-trade trafficking.

You’re right, Suzy Kolber, that’s damned “uncomfortable.”

THE NFL’S PERSONAL conduct policy states “ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline.” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has the power to fine and/ or suspend Kraft from any activities involving the Super Bowl champions.

“It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime,” the policy says. “We are all held to a higher standard and must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL, and is lawful.”

Last year, Jerry Richardson essentially was forced to sell the Carolina Panthers after allegations surfaced of his sexual and racial misconduct in the workplace.

All eyes will be on Goodell as the Kraft case progresses — and the level of reckoning is decided.

(Jim Eckstrom is executive editor of the Olean Times Herald and Bradford Publishing Co. His email is jeckstrom@oleantimesherald.com.)