Florida cops wanted to arrest Epstein victims after they came forward: grand jury docs
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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Balmoral Estate in Scotland (Image: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York)
Among the documents released in the investigation files pertaining to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were the grand jury information from a 2007 case. And some of the details explain why many of Epstein's victims have been unwilling to come forward.
An FBI agent in the Palm Beach, Florida office testified that one of the Epstein victims, who was underage when she met him, faced threats of charges and prosecution. By the time the grand jury called her in to testify, two years later, she was over 18.
In one interview, the FBI agent detailed how she went from victim to accomplice.
When the 2005 interview with the Palm Beach Police Department began, the agent testified that the victim was "very forthcoming" and "fully cooperative."
The agent then testified that her cooperation with the new investigation only happened through her lawyer after the PBPD threatened her.
In the middle of the interview, the agent said, the PB police told her she "could be charged" with a crime because she "brought some of the girls to Mr. Epstein and the police — she was very cooperative, but the police at that point had to let [her] know what she had done that she could be facing charges."
The police had previously told her she didn't need a lawyer. Ultimately, she agreed to cooperate with the grand jury only if she was given immunity.
In this case, the PBPD got "a probable cause affidavit against" the girl.
Many of the Epstein survivors described being scared of what Epstein could do to them or their families.
One out of every four women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime. However, fewer than 5 percent of those sexual assaults are reported to law enforcement. Of those who are willing to report an assault, one in five cases are deemed baseless by police and coded "unfounded," according to a study published by the National Institutes of Health in 2020.
"Police officers are in a unique position to act as gatekeepers for justice in sexual assault cases, given their responsibility to investigate sexual assault reports," the study writers explained in the abstract. "However, high rates of unfounded sexual assaults reveal that dismissing sexual violence has become common practice amongst the police."