The prosecutor who cut a lenient deal with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 had already presented graphic, damning testimony from the girls Epstein recruited and raped at his Palm Beach mansion over a period that lasted for years.
A judge on Monday released over 150 pages of the transcripts of the 2006 grand jury investigation that looked into sex trafficking and rape allegations made against the late millionaire and financier.
They included testimony from investigating police officers as well as a victim who was 14 years old when she was first recruited by a friend to earn quick, easy money by heading to Epstein’s home, stripping down to her underwear and giving him a massage.
She said $200 became $300 when Epstein asked her to allow him to fondle her with a sex toy.
The girl said she pretended to be 18, though the friend who recruited her knew her real age.
Investigators combing through Epstein’s trash found the names and phone numbers of numerous young girls, the documents released Monday reveal.
In one instance, one of the girls told police she was told by Epstein that he would pay her to bring him more girls. “She agreed to bring the girls to him,” Palm Beach Police Detective Joe Recarey said in the transcripts. “And he told her, the younger, the better. She brought a 23-year-old to massage him, and he told her that she was too old.”
Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Palm Beach County in July 2008. He admitted he hired local underage girls to provide sex and erotic massages at his home. His sentence has been referred to as a “sweetheart deal” that allowed him lenient work release while he served about 13 months of an 18-month sentence, followed by a year of house arrest.
An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement focused on former Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer’s decision not to aggressively prosecute the sex abuse allegations against Epstein; his generous work release privileges in jail; and allegations that Epstein had sex with young women while under the jail’s supervision.
The investigation found Epstein received “differential treatment” in jail, but no evidence was uncovered that suggests county officials broke any laws. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail in 2019 as he awaited a sex trafficking trial.
He was 66 at the time of his death and in his 50s during the time period described by the rape victims.
The judge’s release of the transcripts on Monday came as a surprise as he had scheduled a hearing for next week on when and how to release them. Gov. Ron DeSantis had signed a bill in February allowing the release on July 1 or any time thereafter that Circuit Judge Luis Delgado ordered.
“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.”
Delgado in his order called Epstein “the most infamous pedophile in American history.”
“Epstein is indeed notorious and infamous and is widely reported to have flaunted his wealth while cavorting with politicians, billionaires, and even British Royalty,” Delgado wrote. “It is understandable that given those reports the public has a great curiosity about what was widely reported by news (agencies) as ‘special treatment’ regarding his prosecution.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.
