The Jeffrey Epstein saga began — and could have ended — in Palm Beach County, Florida, in 2006. The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, sued in 2019 to find out why it didn't. Now, secret documents detailing what happened 17 years ago when Epstein was indicted on only a single prostitution charge are public.
After a nearly four-year court battle to obtain secret grand jury materials in the Jeffrey Epstein case, The Palm Beach Post has documents in hand and reporters are poring over them to see why the serial sexual predator wasn't stopped by the first prosecutor to consider criminal charges against him.
The Post sued for the release of the materials after it found in its 2019 investigation that then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer undermined his own case against Epstein in 2006. His office never spoke with any of the victims, according to state attorney documents, and once Epstein's famous defense attorneys came to town, his office quit communicating regularly with police.
No longer secret:Jeffrey Epstein 2006 grand jury documents are public. Read for yourself what happened
Read the 2019 investigation:How Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutors failed his victims, seeing them as prostitutes
In a highly unusual move, Krischer convened a grand jury, which is secret except in extraordinary circ*mstances, to consider criminal charges against Epstein. During the proceedings, prosecutors questioned two victims, the grand jury documents show. Sources told The Post prosecutor Lanna Belohlavek questioned a 14-year-old girl. Belohlavek then undermined her own witness by using her MySpace pages, which were supplied by defense attorneys and appeared to depict drinking, drugs and simulated sex.
Yet that 14-year-old girl, stood up to a man who hobnobbed with the likes of former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.
USA TODAY Network exclusive:Never-before-seen Jeffrey Epstein biography surfaces
The grand jury indicted Epstein on only one charge — felony solicitation of prostitution, what a "john" would face propositioning an adult sex worker. The mysterious outcome did not address the fact that police say they found multiple incidents of sexual abuse of about two dozen underage girls.
Palm Beach police thought the crimes were more extensive. They'd found five minors who were victims and whose accusations could prompt criminal charges, according to the law at the time. Seventeen witnesses, many of whom were 16 or 17 when Epstein abused them, could have backed up their stories, which were strikingly similar.
This survivor wanted documents released:Jeffrey Epstein victim goes public: ’I want to know why’
Charges recommended by police could have put Epstein in prison for decades. He ended up spending 13 months in jail and left six days a week, 12 hours a day, on work release.
The outcome of the grand jury proceeding and another prostitution charge that Epstein pleaded guilty to allowed him to traffic, rape and molest underage girls for 11 more years after he pleaded guilty. One victim's attorney estimates Epstein abused at least 500 victims.
Jeffrey Epstein victim was asked, Do you know 'you committed a crime?'
When the Palm Beach County assistant state attorney presenting her case concerning Epstein to a 2006 grand jury, she asked a child testifying whether she was aware "you committed a crime,” according to the secret transcripts made public Monday.
The grand jury came up with only one solicitation of prostitution charge against Epstein that didn't reflect the ages of the victims who testified.
The girl told Belohlavek that she was 14 when she went to Epstein's mansion in Palm Beach and that she was 16 when she testified.
A juror asked the girl: “Do you have any idea, deep down inside of you, that you -- what you’re doing is wrong?” A: “Yeah. I did.”
Juror: “Have you set the goals to not do it anymore?”
A: “Yes.”
Juror: “And you’re well aware that -- what you’re doing to your own reputation?”
A: “Yes. I do.”
Lanna Belohlavek: “You’re aware that you committed a crime?”
A: “Now I am.
What more we could learn from the 2006 Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts
What charges did grand jurors have to choose from? What was the most serious charge on the menu given to them by the prosecutors?
Were the charges that had been recommended by the Palm Beach police on the list? Those included one count of lewd and lascivious molestation and/or four counts of unlawful sex with a minor, all second-degree felonies that had the potential to put Epstein away for 75 years.
The state attorney's office said at the time that grand jurors could choose from the most serious charges to the least serious but has never said what they were.
What about all of the victims Palm Beach police found?
Was there testimony or even questions indicating police found multiple victims?
Two victims took the stand, but did Assistant State Attorney Belohlavek question Palm Beach police detective Joseph Recarey about others? Police had found roughly two dozen young women and girls who described sexual abuse at Epstein's Palm Beach mansion.
What about the age of the victims testifying in the Jeffrey Epstein case?
Was it clear to grand jurors that one of the victims who testified was underage? The question is relevant because the solicitation of prostitution charge did not reflect the fact that she was a minor. It was a charge a "john" would face when soliciting an adult sex worker.
It did, however, label her a prostitute. State law at the time recognized 18 as the age of consent, but also allowed children her age to be charged with prostitution — and Krischer had charged children with prostitution more than once.
