From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Florida prosecutors knew Epstein raped teenage
girls 2 years before cutting deal, transcript
shows
Image
By TERRY SPENCER
Updated 6:53 PM EDT, July 1, 2024

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) � Florida prosecutors
knew the late millionaire and financier Jeffrey
Epstein sexually assaulted teenage girls two years
before they cut a plea deal that has long been
criticized as too lenient and a missed opportunity
to imprison him a decade earlier, according to
transcripts released Monday.

The 2006 grand jury investigation was the first of
many by law enforcement over the past two decades
into Epstein�s rape and sex trafficking of
teenagers � and how his ties to the rich and the
powerful seem to have allowed him to avoid prison
or a serious jail term for over a decade.

The investigations uncovered Epstein�s close ties
to former President Bill Clinton and Britain�s
Prince Andrew, as well as his once friendly
relationship with former President Donald Trump
and numerous others of wealth and influence who
have denied doing anything criminal or improper
and not been charged.

Circuit Judge Luis Delgado�s release of
approximately 150 pages Monday came as a surprise,
since there was scheduled hearing next week over
unsealing the graphic testimony. Gov. Ron DeSantis
had signed a bill in February allowing the release
on Monday or any time thereafter that Delgado
ordered. Florida grand jury transcripts are
usually kept secret forever, but the bill created
an exemption for cases like Epstein�s.


The transcripts show that the grand jury heard
testimony that Epstein, who was then in his 40s,
had raped teenage girls as young as 14 at his Palm
Beach mansion, often paying them so he could
commit statutory rape or assault. The teenagers
testified and told detectives they were also paid
cash or rented cars if they found him more girls.

�The details in the record will be outrageous to
decent people,� Delgado wrote in his order. �The
testimony taken by the Grand Jury concerns
activity ranging from grossly unacceptable to rape
� all of the conduct at issue is sexually deviant,
disgusting, and criminal.�

In 2008, Epstein cut a deal with South Florida
federal prosecutors that allowed him to escape
more severe federal charges and instead plead
guilty to state charges of procuring a person
under 18 for prostitution and solicitation of
prostitution. He was sentenced to 1.5 years in the
Palm Beach County jail system, during which he was
allowed to go to his office almost daily as part
of a work-release program, followed by a year of
house arrest. He was required to register as a sex
offender.

Criticism of the deal resulted in the 2019
resignation of Trump�s labor secretary, Alex
Acosta, who was the U.S. attorney for South
Florida in 2008 and signed off on the deal. A 2020
Justice Department investigation concluded that
Acosta used �poor judgment� in his handling of the
Epstein prosecution, but it didn�t rise to the
level of professional misconduct.

The chief prosecutor in the Epstein case, former
Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer,
did not immediately respond Monday to an email and
a voicemail seeking comment about the
transcripts� release.

Current Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave
Aronberg, who was not involved in the
investigation, said in a statement he is glad the
records have been released. He said he has not yet
read the transcripts, so could not comment on
whether Krischer should have pursued a tougher
prosecution of Epstein.

Brad Edwards, an attorney for many of the victims,
said in a statement that the transcripts show that
Krischer�s office �took the case to the Grand Jury
with an agenda � to return minimal, if any,
criminal charges against Jeffrey Epstein.�

�A fraction of the evidence was presented, in a
misleading way, and the Office portrayed the
victims as criminals,� he said. �It is so sad, the
number of victims Epstein was able to abuse
because the State carried water for him when they
had a chance to put him away.�

Epstein�s estate is paying $155 million in
restitution to more than 125 victims.

According to the transcripts, Palm Beach Police
Detective Joe Recarey testified in July 2006 that
the initial investigation began when a woman
reported in March 2005 that her stepdaughter who
was in high school at the time said she received
$300 in exchange for �sexual activity with a man
in Palm Beach,� Recarey testified.

Another teenager, whose name was redacted in the
transcript, told detectives that she was 17 years
old when she was approached by a friend who said
she could make $200 by providing a massage at
Epstein�s home.

At the house, when Epstein tried touching her, she
told him she was uncomfortable. He then told her
that he would pay her $200 if she brought �girls�
to the house. �And he told her, �The younger, the
better,�� Recarey said.

Over time she brought six friends to Epstein�s
house, including a 14-year-old, and likened
herself to Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss in
October 2005 interviews, Recarey recounted.

When she brought over a 23-year-old friend,
Epstein told her that the friend was too old.

�The more you did, the more money you made,� the
detective said the teen told him. �She explained
that there was going to be a massage or some
possible touching, and you would have to provide
the massage either topless or naked.�

Another teen testified she visited Epstein�s house
hundreds of times in the early 2000s, starting
when she was 16. She testified that Epstein paid
her $200 each time she gave him a massage while
naked, rented her a car and gave her $1,000 the
time he raped her.

A 2005 police search of Epstein�s mansion found
evidence supporting the girls� testimony. Also,
Epstein�s houseman told detectives that the
teenagers who came to the mansion were �very
young. Too young to be a masseuse.�

Epstein in 2018 was charged with federal sex
trafficking crimes in New York � where he also had
a mansion that was a scene of abuse � after the
Miami Herald published a series of articles that
renewed public attention on the case, including
interviews with some victims who had been pursuing
civil lawsuits against him. Epstein was 66 when he
killed himself in a New York City jail cell in
August 2019, federal officials say.

Delgado in his order wrote that the transcripts
show why Epstein was �the most infamous pedophile
in American history.�

�For almost 20 years, the story of how Jeffrey
Epstein victimized some of Palm Beach County�s
most vulnerable has been the subject of much anger
and has at times diminished the public�s
perception of the criminal justice system,�
Delgado wrote.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2