{"id":7794,"date":"2019-07-26T04:36:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T11:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=7794"},"modified":"2019-07-26T04:37:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T11:37:25","slug":"lawmaker-says-shes-been-told-to-back-off-call-for-probe-of-jeffrey-epsteins-work-release-miami-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=7794","title":{"rendered":"“Lawmaker says she\u2019s been told to back off call for probe of Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s work release”, Miami Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Julie K. Brown and Nicholas Hehamas, July 25, 2019<\/p>\n

Florida Sen. Lauren Book has reached out to Capitol police after receiving an anonymous warning connected to her demand for a state inquiry into Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw\u2019s handling of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s lenient work release program<\/a>, the Miami Herald has learned.<\/p>\n

Book, a vocal advocate for child sexual assault survivors, said she also received more than a dozen calls from Bradshaw\u2019s political supporters asking her to back off on her call for an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Bradshaw.<\/p>\n\"IMG_KL4_2_1_NP85OM26<\/picture>\n

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Ric Bradshaw, sheriff of Palm Beach County when Jeffrey Epstein was incarcerated and still sheriff, said his office will investigate its own handling of the multimillionaire\u2019s work release. Epstein was allowed 12 hours a day, six days a week of freedom despite allegations from three dozen underage girls that he had molested them. Taylor Jones PALM BEACH POST<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday, Book, a Democrat, wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis asking him to authorize a probe into how Epstein, accused of molesting dozens of underage girls<\/a> and a registered sex offender, was permitted to leave the Palm Beach County Jail and spend much of his 2008-2009 incarceration in an office in West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

DeSantis said Thursday after a Cabinet meeting that he would \u201ccertainly consider\u201d an investigation but that he has yet to decide how the state should respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw someone sent me a letter. I looked at it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to figure out what the proper role of FDLE [is]. I know they are investigating it down in Palm Beach. … Clearly when you look at how that happened, if even like 10 percent of the things about him are true, then that whole agreement was obviously suspect and willfully below what he should have faced.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

While the governor was still weighing the merits of the senator\u2019s request, the Palm Beach Sheriff\u2019s Office issued a new statement that its previously announced internal affairs investigation of the deputies who guarded and supervised Epstein during his work release had become a criminal investigation as well. No further elaboration was provided.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Book, in an interview with the Herald, said she had asked the Capitol police, who handle security for state lawmakers, to look into claims made on a Russian website alleging that Bradshaw was behind an effort to access her phone and emails by using the pretext of \u201cimminent danger\u2019\u2019 to obtain her personal information.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve received countless phone calls saying \u2018Little girl you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re getting into,\u2019 and telling me that I should just stop,\u2019\u2019 said Book, a child sexual abuse survivor herself who has worked to pass strict sex offender laws in Florida.<\/p>\n

In a statement, PBSO said it had no knowledge of anyone trying to threaten or pressure Book.<\/p>\n

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Jeffrey Epstein was arrested Saturday, July 6, 2019, when he arrived at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on his private jet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNor has PBSO made any effort to access her phone or emails as alleged on a salacious website run by a disgruntled former employee,\u2019\u2019 the statement said.<\/p>\n

Pbsotalk.org<\/a>, the website in question, is a blog tied to a former Palm Beach sheriff\u2019s deputy who moved to Russia after starting the site, which claims it is dedicated to exposing corruption in the Palm Beach Sheriff\u2019s Office. The former deputy, John Dougan, fled to Moscow in 2016 following an FBI raid on his Palm Beach home that he claims was politically motivated.<\/p>\n

The pressure against Book came on the same day that Epstein, 66, was found injured in his cell<\/a> at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges brought earlier this month<\/a> by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. His arrest stemmed from alleged behavior with underage girls dating back more than a decade in New York and Florida. Epstein was taken into custody July 6 after arriving at New Jersey\u2019s Teterboro Airport from Paris on his private jet.<\/p>\n

Epstein was found unconscious in his cell Wednesday evening amid speculation that he may have tried to commit suicide or been attacked by another inmate. Jail officials said he was in the lockup Thursday.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, Bradshaw announced the internal affairs investigation after reports emerged that Epstein \u2014 while on work release in Palm Beach \u2014 was allowed female visitors to his office, including at least one visit that led to a sexual encounter. The terms of Epstein\u2019s incarceration were detailed by the Herald as part of a series published last year about Epstein\u2019s case, Perversion of Justice.<\/a><\/p>\n

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