Palm Beach County criminal investigation seals Epstein records
A new criminal investigation examining wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s time at the Palm Beach County jail effectively shut down the public’s ability to review records related to the case.
Epstein’s jail sentence about a decade ago is getting a fresh examination amid accusations that he continued to have “improper sexual contact” with women when he was on work release from the jail and under the supervision of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
But the investigation isn’t being done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or another outside law enforcement agency. Instead, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw ordered his own detectives to handle the probe.
Bradshaw has led the agency since 2004, and he was in charge of the Sheriff’s Office when Epstein spent 13 months in the county stockade during 2008-09 as part of a once-secret plea deal widely criticized for being too lenient.
As part of the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges, registered as a sex offender, and paid settlements to victims. The agreement ended a federal sex abuse investigation that involved dozens of teenage girls.
Now, the Sheriff’s Office is citing its current criminal investigation into the work-release details as the reason for why it doesn’t have to turn over any more records related to Epstein’s time at the jail. Teri Barbera, a PBSO spokeswoman, said it’s standard procedure to withhold records when an investigation is ongoing. The public will have access to all of the records once the investigation is completed, she said.
“The investigation’s outcome will be public as soon as it is completed,” Barbera said. “We have to look at everything we have. Lots of records to look at, lots of interviewing to be done, lots of fact finding to be done.”
She did not offer an estimate of how long the investigation will take, saying she did not want to put a deadline on what will be a “thorough” probe. No deputies have been placed on administrative leave as a result of the investigation, she said.
Records released before the current criminal probe was opened have led to scrutiny on the agency’s handling of the case.
Reports showed deputies allowed Epstein to visit his home at least nine times, an apparent violation of the terms of his work release. In an internal memo, a jail supervisor asked if any vetting of Epstein’s approved visitors had been done.
Deputies referred to Epstein as “the client” in their reports and wrote that he was “very happy” with the service he was being provided. About 3½ months into his sentence, Esptein was allowed to leave the jail for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, to work in a downtown West Palm Beach office.
While the South Florida Sun Sentinel received some records it requested related to the case, it also had outstanding requests for additional memorandums and correspondence that are now on hold.
On July 16, lawyer Brad Edwards, who is representing more than a dozen Epstein accusers, said the agency had not properly supervised Epstein on work release, which enabled him to continue to have contact with women.
said the agency took that allegation seriously and opened a criminal investigation on July 23.
“He is making very strong allegations that something happened on our work release program,” she said. “If that’s the case, that is criminal.”
The criminal probe was opened on the same day news broke that state Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation,
had requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct an independent investigation into the handling of Epstein’s work release.
Book, who was sexually assaulted as a child and has made mistreatment of children a personal cause, has continued to push on social media and with a petition for an independent investigation.Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has the authority to order an FDLE investigation, said he is reviewing the case.
Barbera said seasoned deBarbera tectives in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s violent crimes unit will conduct a thorough investigation and follow it wherever it leads.
While the investigation gets under way in Florida, Epstein remains in a New York jail. He was indicted in early July on federal sex trafficking charges in New York.