State investigators in Florida cleared Palm Beach County prosecutors and sheriff’s office officials of any wrongdoing in connection with their handling of the case on the late Jeffrey Epstein during his prosecution and imprisonment between 2005 and 2009.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement found “no evidence” that any official broke the law by giving Epstein special treatment due to bribery or other influence, according to reports released Monday.
“Based on the review of all available information, no evidence was developed to substantiate that any identified individual engaged in criminal activity during the performance of their duties associated with the criminal investigation, prosecution, or court proceedings pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein,” one of the reports concluded.
GHISLAINE MAXWELL TRIAL POSTPONED UNTIL THE FALL
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into the county’s handling of Epstein on Aug. 6, 2019, requesting an investigation “beyond the work release of Jeffrey Epstein and into other irregularities surrounding the prior state investigation and the ultimate plea agreement.”
Epstein’s victims and others criticized county officials for the plea deal that he received in 2008. Under the agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a person younger than 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution and was sentenced to 18 months in the Palm Beach County jail.
The deal permitted Epstein to participate in a work release program, allowing him to go to his home and to work at his office, where he was later accused of sexually abusing an underage girl.
During the initial investigation, police sought sexual assault charges against Epstein. Then-State Attorney Barry Krischer and his prosecutors disagreed with the approach, arguing that the victims’ credibility meant that they could compromise the prosecution’s case if questioned by Epstein’s attorneys and that a conviction was unlikely, according to the Associated Press.
After a grand jury declined to issue an indictment in the case, Palm Beach police went to federal prosecutors who threatened to bring charges until Epstein and state prosecutors agreed to the plea deal in June 2008.
Deputies monitoring Epstein “were not required to check Epstein’s residence for unauthorized persons, nor did they have to remain inside the residence while Epstein was inside,” according to the reports released Monday.
Two individuals, one of whom was 17 at the time, said in complaints filed Aug. 20, 2019, that they were trafficked to Epstein’s Florida office to engage in paid sex during the work release stint of his sentence. The women declined to be interviewed by Florida investigators, though one of the reports said their attorney texted an investigator that there was “no alleged wrongdoing by deputies.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for comment on the reports’ findings but did not immediately receive a response.
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Epstein killed himself while in federal custody on sex trafficking charges Aug. 10, 2019, four days after DeSantis order the investigation into his case, according to New York City’s chief medical examiner.
