INTENSIFYING

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Launches Criminal Probe Into Jeffrey Epstein’s Work Release

Sheriff Rick Bradshaw launched a criminal investigation into the matter this week.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into how deputies handled Jeffrey Epstein’s work release over a decade ago, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Sheriff Rick Bradshaw opened an internal investigation last week before broadening it to a criminal investigation, spokeswoman Teri Barbera said Thursday. Bradshaw, who was sheriff when Epstein was at the jail, wants to “hold those accountable for any failures and ensure that it won’t happen again.” Epstein spent 13 months in the Florida county jail in 2008 and 2009 as part of a plea deal that ended a federal sex-abuse investigation involving dozens of teenage girls. Epstein was allowed to leave his cell for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week under the work-release program, and he allegedly managed to spend unsupervised time at the same private mansion where he is accused of running a sex-trafficking ring. During one visit, a deputy allegedly stood outside his home for more than two hours while Epstein was inside unsupervised. Epstein now faces new federal sex-trafficking charges in New York.