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on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is reported to have, among its finer features, closed-circuit television and a heated sidewalk to melt away fallen snow.

That townhouse, thought to be the largest private residence in Manhattan, is only a piece of the extravagant world Epstein built over time.

In New Mexico, he constructed a 27,000-square-foot hilltop mansion on a 10,000-acre ranch outside Santa Fe. Many believed it to be the largest home in the state.

In Palm Beach, he bought a waterfront home on El Brillo Way. And he owns a 100-acre private island in the Virgin Islands.

Perhaps as remarkable as his lavish homes is his extensive network of friends and associates at the highest echelons of power. This includes not only socialites but also business tycoons, media moguls, politicians, royalty and Nobel Prize-winning scientists whose research he often funds.

"Just like other people collect art, he collects scientists," said Martin Nowak, who directs the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University and was reportedly the recipient of a $30 million research donation from Epstein.

Epstein is said to have befriended former Harvard President Larry Summers, prominent law Professor Alan Dershowitz, Donald Trump and New York Daily News Publisher Mort Zuckerman.

And yet he managed for decades to maintain a low profile. He avoids eating out and was rarely photographed.

Epstein's friendship with Clinton has attracted the most attention.

Epstein met Clinton as early as 1995, when he paid tens of thousands of dollars to join him at an intimate fund-raising dinner in Palm Beach. But from all appearances, they did not become close friends until after Clinton left the Oval Office and moved to New York.

Vanity Fair article.

Epstein has donated more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates' campaigns, including John Kerry's presidential bid, the reelection campaign of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and the Senate bids of Joe Lieberman, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christopher Dodd and Charles Schumer.

## Powerful friends and enemies

A Vanity Fair profile found cracks in the veneer of Epstein's life story. The 2003 article said he left Bear Stearns in the wake of a federal probe and a possible Securities and Exchange Commission violation. It also pointed out that Citibank once sued him for defaulting on a $20 million loan.

The article suggested that one of his business mentors and previous employers was Steven Hoffenberg, now serving a prison term after "billing investors out of more than $450 million in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history."

As he amassed his wealth, Epstein made enemies in disputes both large and small. He sued the man who in 1990 sold him his multimillion-dollar Palm Beach home over a dispute about less than $16,000 in furnishings.

“It’s a bad memory. I would rather not have ever met Jeffrey Epstein,” said Michael Stroll, the retired former president of Williams Electronics and Sega Corp. “Suffice it to say I have nothing good to say about him.”

Among the characteristics most attributed to Epstein is a penchant for women.

in Texas on wells. A judge decided Epstein owed him nothing.

He has been linked to Maxwell, a fixture on the high-society party circuits in both New York and London. Previous girlfriends are said to include a former Ms. Sweden and a Romanian model.

"He's a lot of fun to be with," Donald Trump told New York magazine in 2002. "It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

## Investigation leads to Epstein

Although he was not a frequenter of the Palm Beach social scene, he made his presence felt. Among his charitable donations, he gave $90,000 to the Palm Beach Police Department and $100,000 to Ballet Florida.

In Palm Beach, he lived in luxury. Three black Mercedes sat in his garage, alongside a green Harley-Davidson. His jet waited at a hangar at Palm Beach International Airport. At home, a private chef and a small staff stood at the ready. From a window in his mansion, he could look out on the Intracoastal Waterway and the West Palm Beach skyline. He seemed to be a man who had everything.

But extraordinary wealth can

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YORK TIMES NATIONAL SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

□YT

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Photographs by Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

ly large crowd of brides- and grooms-to-be dashed to the y Marriage License Bureau just before midnight on Friday.

ity were sent notices of and asked for feedback,urre said, but she had We had an open public no one showed up," she ally puzzling to me."

the city's marriage inbustling. There were ty, flowing gowns, someers looking slightly terouple — he with a cigarween his teeth, she unere wed under a tree atuite Chapel. When it washe gave her groom a pat

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urity guards for their

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bewildered couples,

ne couples were giddy.

or drive in. They think, 'Well, we need to do this, there are no lines, let's just do it now.'"

Weddings have been a mainstay of the Las Vegas experience since the 1920's, taking off with the widespread use of the automobile in the 1940's, when the Hitching Post and the Wee Kirk o' the Heather opened their doors. Inspired by the lax licensing laws — no blood test, no waiting — couples flocked from around the region, and eventually the country, to wed.

Among the earliest celebrity clients were the actors Clara Bow and Rex Bell, who tied the knot here in 1931, said Guy Rocha, the state archivist.

Just like its casinos, restaurants, hotels and adult entertainers, Las Vegas wedding chapels cater to all tastes. Couples can combine a wedding with a day package to the most

# Florida Sex Case Raises Questions About Charges

By ABBY GOODNOUGH

PALM BEACH, Fla. — In the summer and autumn of last year, when most of the mansions here stood empty behind their towering hedges, the police stealthily watched one at the end of a waterside lane. They monitored the comings and goings of its owner's private jet, subpoenaed his phone records and riffled through his trash.

The owner was Jeffrey Epstein, 53, an intensely private New York money manager with several billionaire clients. Months earlier, the stepmother of a 14-year-old girl told the Palm Beach police that a wealthy older man, whom the girl later identified as Mr. Epstein, might have had inappropriate sexual contact with her.

In sworn statements to the police, the 14-year-old and other teenage girls said a friend had arranged for them to visit Mr. Epstein's home and give him massages, usually in their underwear, in exchange for cash.

Most of the girls, according to the police, said Mr. Epstein had masturbated during the massages, and a few said he had penetrated them with his fingers or penis. They identified him in photos and accurately described the inside of his home. Some recalled that his employees had fed them snacks or rented them cars.

Mr. Epstein pleaded not guilty in August to the crime he was ultimately charged with, soliciting prostitution. But at a time when prosecutors around the nation have become increasingly severe in dealing with people accused of sex offenses, the case has raised questions about whether Mr. Epstein's prominence won him preferential treatment.

By the account of the police, they found probable cause to charge Mr. Epstein with much more serious offenses: one count of lewd and lascivious molestation and four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

But instead of proceeding with such charges on his own, the Palm Beach County state attorney took the rare step of presenting a broad range of possible charges to a grand jury, which indicted Mr. Epstein in July on the lesser count. In Florida, prosecutors usually refer only capital cases to grand juries.

Even before the indictment, the Palm Beach police chief, Michael Reiter, had accused prosecutors of giving Mr. Epstein special treatment and asked the state attorney, Barry E. Krischer, to remove himself from

college student, told the girl to say she was 18 if Mr. Epstein asked, the report said.

The girl told the police that Mr. Epstein's assistant had led her upstairs to a room with a massage table and that Mr. Epstein had come in and told her to remove her clothes. She said Mr. Epstein had masturbated as she massaged him, had pressed a vibrator against her underwear and had given her $300 afterward.

In October, the police interviewed Ms. then 19, who told them Mr. Epstein had routinely paid her to bring teenage girls to his home. The police then interviewed a total of 5 alleged victims and 17 witnesses, many of whom told similar stories about what they had observed or participated in at Mr. Epstein's home. According to the report, at least one said Mr. Epstein had engaged in intercourse with her.

Mr. Lefcourt, his lawyer, said one girl who told the police of having had sex with Mr. Epstein as a minor had lied about both the sex and her age and had not shown up for grand jury questioning. He also said Mr. Epstein had passed a lie-detector test clearing him of any sexual involvement with under-age girls.

A spokeswoman for the Palm Beach police said that early this year, the police went to Mr. Krischer, the state attorney, intending to apply for warrants to arrest Mr. Epstein. Instead, she said, they were told that

Jeffrey Epstein faces lesser charges than police wanted.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office



Mr. Krischer would convene a grand jury to examine the evidence and de-

EFTA00188349

Williams, the attable keeps careful watch over it, said that scores more in normal showed up Friipating the closing hour. deadline won't stop drunk m getting married in the night,” Mr. Williams said. n up drunk all day long. I from getting married.”

from getting married.

raguirre said the majority who showed up for a wedse during the graveyard no intention of racing off to aid anyway. "We think there onception here," she said, le coming in during those normally not planning im-night weddings, they fly in

through a chapel in a timo for a five-minute ceremony. For $365, you can get in the spirit of Lancelot, or step out of a coffin and bare fangs at your betrothed during a gothic ceremony.

Several chapel owners said they were indifferent to the change. "They probably were losing money, and there is no point in it," said the Rev. David Nye, who is a co-owner of A Las Vegas Wedding Chapel.

"Who would this affect? Britney Spears, that's all," Mr. Nye said. "I am not sure why there is a controversy. Most people are shocked to death that it was open in the middle of the night to begin with. If 8 to midnight isn't enough, I don't know what is."

Tell that to poor Mr. Harris.



series for Indian Veterans


fense Department's most recent, from December 2005. By 2006, there will be an estimate of 361 Native American vet recording to the The Native American Veterans Asestimates that 22 percent of Americans 18 years or older ins.

"I about recognizing that it's states that have rights —), should have rights," Mr. I in a recent interview.

are 562 federally recognized the United States. New Mex has 22 tribal reservations, population of Mr. Udall's dispercent Indian.

ing the importance of being buried close to home, Thomas Berry, a Navy veteran and a founder of the two-year-old National Native American Veterans Association, said tribes have sacred ceremonies and rituals to honor the dead and ease passage into the next life.



Craig Robinson for The New Yorker

more than 300 graves

"If a Native American is buried in a national cemetery, a lot of the rituals cannot be performed because of coding restrictions and regulations," Mr. Berry said. "So it's important to us to have a place on tribal land to bury our veterans."

Leo Chischilly, 57, the department manager for the Department of Navajo Veterans Affairs in the Navajo capital, Window Rock, Ariz., said having veterans' cemeteries on tribal land was a matter of practicality as well as tradition.

"The Navajo Nation would like to bury their loved ones within the four sacred mountains on Navajo land," Mr. Chischilly said. "But the closest veterans' cemetery is in Santa Fe, N.M., four hours' drive from Window Rock. Some families visit the grave sites on Veterans Day or Memorial Day, but most people would prefer something closer to home."

Some reservations have cemeteries dedicated to veterans, but they are maintained and paid for by the tribal organization or volunteers, not by the

Fort Defiance Veterans Cemetery in Arizona is one such example. It is full with more than 300 graves of Navajo veterans.

Ten acres have been set aside in Chinle, Ariz., for a new veterans' cemetery, Mr. Chischilly said, but money is needed.

"Hopefully if President Bush signs the legislation we can submit a proposal to get a veterans' cemetery on the Navajo Nation," Mr. Chischilly said. "We'll be able to provide the land, but we will have to get other sources of funding for the operational costs."

In an editorial, The Palm Beach Post attacked Mr. Krischer, a Democrat whose post is elective, saying the public had been left “to wonder whether the system tilted in favor of a wealthy, well-connected alleged perpetrator and against very young girls who are alleged victims of sex crimes.”

The case has taken a toll on the reputation of Mr. Epstein, who owns a palatial home in Manhattan, has pledged $30 million to Harvard and once flew former President Bill Clinton on his 727. Politicians including Eliot Spitzer, a Democratic candidate for governor in New York, and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, also a Democrat, have returned campaign contributions from him.

But Mr. Epstein fought back, assembling a team of star lawyers, including Gerald B. Lefcourt and Alan M. Dershowitz, a friend of his, to look into the backgrounds of his young accusers.

Mr. Lefcourt says that the police acted "outrageously" and that his client has been wrongfully dragged through the mud.

"He disputes that he ever had sex with any under-age person or anything like that," said Mr. Lefcourt, whose clients have included Russell Crowe, Martha Stewart and Abbie Hoffman.

Neither the police nor the state attorney's office would discuss the case in detail. But the police released a thick report on the 13-month investigation after the indictment was unsealed in late July.

The police started investigating Mr. Epstein in March 2005, almost immediately after they were contacted by the stepmother of the 14-year-old, who, according to the report, was in a special school for students with disciplinary problems.

The girl, the report said, told the police that an older friend had “offered her an opportunity to make money” and had driven her to Mr. Epstein's house one Sunday. The friend, identified by the police as

by the police as a local community

Around that time, the police report said, Mr. Dershowitz met with prosecutors to share information about the accusers, including statements they had posted on MySpace.com, the social networking site, concerning use of drugs and alcohol. According to the report, Mr. Krischer's office then decided to delay the grand jury session for several months.

The Palm Beach police grew frustrated, the report said, and on May 1 the department asked prosecutors to approve warrants to arrest Mr. Epstein.

Chief Reiter also wrote Mr. Krischer questioning "the unusual course that your office's handling of this matter has taken" and suggesting that Mr. Krischer disqualify himself. Chief Reiter refused several requests to be interviewed, and his spokeswoman would not say explicitly why he had urged the prosecutor to step aside.

Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for Mr. Krischer, said the state attorney's office sometimes sent noncapital cases to grand juries when there were questions about witness credibility. Mr. Krischer does not recommend a particular charge in such cases, Mr. Edmondson said, but gives the grand jury a list of possible charges.

Bruce J. Winick, a law professor at the University of Miami, said that while prosecutors in Florida rarely referred noncapital cases to grand juries, they sometimes did so with sensitive cases to be extra-cautious.

Mr. Lefcourt said the police were wrong to have released the report so soon, especially without correcting information that later proved wrong. He cited his assertion that one accuser had lied about her age, adding that she had also been arrested on drug charges and had been fired by her employer for stealing.

"What I'm trying to focus on," Mr. Lefcourt said, "is, What's motivating the selective and misleading release of information to the public?"



Mr. Epstein is said to have had teenage girls brought to his house.

EFTA00188350





# alm Beach chief focus of fire in Epstein case



LAKE WORTH — Jane Tackabery's son, John,



# Grieving for Mom, sister

Machek faces challenge following Democrat

18, and a daughter, 14. The couple is scheduled to go to mediation Wednesday. Nothing in the court file suggests their split is particularly ugly.

camp tell it, Reiter, 48, is a loose cannon better suited to be the sheriff of Mayberry. They whisper that he's embroiled in a messy divorce.

Reiter did in fact file for divorce from his wife, Jill, last year, after 24 years of marriage. They have a son,

ELECTIONS 2006

State House District 7

Defendant's lawyers take him on; he slams state attorney

Reiter incurred the wrath of the Epstein camp as well as the state attor-

See REITER, 7B ▶

"a distorted view of the case" and behaved in a "childish" manner when the grand jury didn't indict Epstein on the charges it sought, another Epstein lawyer complained.

To hear the Epstein

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

In the case of Palm Beach financier Jeffrey Epstein, it seems, at times, as if two men are accused of wrongdoing: Epstein and Palm Beach Police Chief

Michael Reiter.

Epstein, 53, was indicted last month on a charge of felony solicitation of prostitution solely because of Reiter’s “craziness,” one of Epstein's lawyers said. His department disseminated

GREENACRES — Michael Shible waves an Israeli flag as a rally supporting Israel's war effort in Lebanon gets under way Sunday at Temple Beth Tikvah. The public was invited to hear speakers including Michael Hadar, executive director of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and Col. Udi Sharon of the Israel Defense Forces. At the close of the rally, a man (right) participates in a congregational reading of a prayer for the state of Israel.

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## Colleagues cite chief’s professionalism, integrity

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▶ REITER from IB





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professionalism," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said of Reiter's letter.



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development from Palm Beach Atlantic University, also has attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., and management courses at Harvard. He’s been active in countywide interagency law enforcement organizations and has a “top secret” national security clearance.







▶ HIV from 1



Reiter: Town Manager Peter Elwell says the Palm Beach police chief’s well worth his $144,000 salary.

dent confined to his home with a sick child thanked Reiter for delivering a few Cokes to the house. Reiter refused payment for the beverages. Another resident thanked Reiter for shutting off his car’s headlights in his driveway, saying a valet must have been at fault.

she pushed measure thro lature last s crease HIV to county jail sy ing Palm Bea

Following Epstein's indictment, Reiter referred the case to the FBI to determine whether the super-rich, super-connected defendant had violated any federal laws.

Reiter won't discuss the case or the broadsides aimed at him. But others almost uniformly use one word to describe the chief: professional.

"He has a perspective that's broader than just addressing the needs of the town," said Town Manager Peter Elwell, who promoted Reiter from assistant chief to chief in March 2001. Reiter makes more than $144,000 as the town's top cop. Elwell thinks he's worth it.

Juno Beach Police Chief H.C. Clark II agreed. Although he doesn't know Reiter well, he has met with him on countywide law enforcement issues. "I've never seen him lose his cool. I've never seen anything but a professional demeanor from him."

ley's office for two reasons. First, he pressed for Epstein to be charged with the more serious crimes of sexual activity with minors. Second, he slammed State Attorney Barry Krischer in blunt language seldom used by one law enforcement official concerning another because of what he perceived as that office's mishandling of the case.

"I have always been impressed by Mike's professionalism and his leadership," said Rick Lincoln, chief of the Lantana Police Department and a Palm Beach County cop for 32 years.

able to make HIV unless pact in the pris said Dr. Johgional direc Correctional es, which pr care at the ja

'I want to go back for my last two years and complete a lot of these things which are so vital for Southeast Florida.'

In a letter to Krischer written May 1, Reiter called his actions in the Epstein case “highly unusual.” He added, “I must urge you to... consider if good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from the prosecution of these cases.”

"The town of Palm Beach has a very professional police department. We all consider Mike to be our peer and a man of integrity."

Reiter joined the Palm Beach Police Department in 1981, leaving a $20,000-a-year patrol job at the University of Pittsburgh. His personnel jacket shows consistently excellent job evaluations.

In short, Reiter told the county's top prosecutor for the past 13 years that he ought to get off the case. "It looks like a departure from

RICHARD A. MACHEK, District 78 incumbent

‘(Many lawmakers have) challenged same-party Democrats because they believed they could do a better job. I'm no exception to that.’

"He's very businesslike, very straightforward. He's not easily agitated or flamboyant. He's about the work," Elwell said. "I think that his service as chief has been outstanding in five-plus years."

County Jail, rapid testing 2004 as program for Disease Convention, high importance of efforts in jail



Posh Palm Beach is no hotbed of crime, and in his first year on the job, a resi-



learned th through rap jail during a od, a third full-blown Al

Reiter, who has a master's degree in human resource years.” @ larry_keller@pbpost.com

Reiter worked everything from road patrol to organized crime, vice and narcotics. And he's no novice at investigations involving the island's rich and famous. He was the lead detective probing the drug overdose death of David Kennedy in 1984. He also was one of the officers who worked the investigation of William Kennedy Smith, who was charged in 1991 — and later acquitted — with raping a woman at the Kennedy family compound in Palm Beach.

## Those w

EFTA00188352

llion in new money to spend in property values.



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parks

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e the

value of the property jumped by 25 percent over last year — helping to bring in about $14 million of new money to be spent — city commissioners are gearing up for a debate on whether to decrease the tax rate.

The result of that debate

could reshape the early budget draft, which was released this week.

A budget workshop is scheduled for Aug. 24, to be followed by public hearings Sept. 6 and 18. But by the time the public hearings are held, cities traditionally don't make many significant changes.

As it stands now, here are the key new items and capital projects in the $358 million budget.

police positions, including three new officers and four civilian staffers who will free up officers to do more actual policing.

$$1 million on youth programs. Mayor Lois Frankel said this is all new revenue. But she is only sure how $400,000 of that will be spent. It’s been set aside for two “youth empowerment centers” that will provide job training, help with school-

teenagers.

$$2.2 million on curb, street, and sidewalk repair around the city.

$$1 million for city road entryways and landscaping.$$

$$500,000 on park improvements, including revamping the ball fields at Phipps Park.

$$120,000 to create a strategy for redeveloping the$$

See BUDGET, 4B ►

# IONG LOCAL COMMUNITY



ury him upside down': Hilda Araujo joins Cars at the Cuban American Club, faced Friday with her husband, Tosn, in wishing the worst for Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

<table><tr><td>rights of the 1960s and lived in Palm Beach Coun-</td></tr></table>

arby table in the large din here televisions broadcast language programming, Hil-

do Area 68, expressed similar sentiments While eating codfish fricassee with rice and black beans, she said she thinks Castro is either dead or on a support.

See CUBAN CLUB, 4B ▶

# Expert: Ignorance of age isn't defense in sex cases

By LARRY KELLER

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

"Ignorance is not a valid defense," said Bob Dekle, a legal skills professor who was a Lake City prosecutor for nearly 30 years, half of that time specializing in sex crimes against children.

"There is no knowledge element as far as the age is concerned," Dekle said.

After an 11-month investigation, Palm Beach police said there was probable cause to charge Epstein, 53, with unlawful sex acts with a minor

Even if Palm Beach money manager Jeffrey Epstein didn't know that girls who police say gave him sexual massages at his Intracoastal home were under the legal age, that alone wouldn't have exempted him from criminal charges of sexual activity with minors.



Epstein: Two politicians have returned donations since he was charged with soliciting minors.

and lewd and lascivious molestation. They contend that Epstein — friend of the rich and famous and financial patron of Democratic Party organizations and candidates — committed those acts with five underage girls.

In the past week, New York Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer has returned about $50,000 in campaign contributions he received from Epstein, and Mark Green, a candidate to replace Spitzer in

See EPSTEIN, 5B ▶

Emily J. Minor's column will return soon.

ree schools after appeals, 3B

Gunfire scatters crowd at National Bikers Roundup, 3B

EFTA00188353

# Lawyer: Jurors often believe adults over ki



EPSTEIN from 1B



his current job, has returned $10,000 to him because of the Palm Beach scandal, the New York Daily News has reported.

Rather than file charges, the state attorney's office presented the case to a county grand jury. The panel indicted Epstein last week on a single, less serious charge of felony solicitation of prostitution.

The case raised eyebrows because the state attorney's office rarely, if ever, kicks such charges to a grand jury. And it increases the difficulty of prosecuting child sex abuse cases, especially when the defendant is enormously wealthy and can hire high-priced, top-tier lawyers.

At least one of Epstein's alleged victims told police he knew she was underage when the two of them got naked for massages and sexual activity. She was 16 years old at the time and said Epstein asked her questions about her high school, according to police reports.

A girl who said she met Epstein when she was 15 said he told her if she told anybody what happened at his house, bad things could happen, the police reports state.

Epstein's youngest alleged victim was 14 when she says she gave him a massage that included some sexual activity. She is now 16. The girl's father says he doesn't know whether she told Epstein her age.

"My daughter has kept a lot of what happened from me because of sheer embarrassment," he said. "But she very much looked 14. Any prudent man would have had second thoughts about that."

Defense attorney Jack Goldberger maintains that not only did Epstein pass a polygraph test showing he did not know the girls were minors, but their stories

## Child sex abuse cases often are difficult to prosecute, an attorney says.

If two teens are in a sexual relationship and the boy turns 18 before the girl, he could be charged with a sex crime if the sex continues. There would be no public interest in pursuing that, Dekle said.

But where there is a large gap in ages — and especially in cases of teachers with students — there is a public interest in prosecuting, he said. Likewise if the accused has a track record of sex with minors.

Still there is a "universal constant" in prosecuting these cases, Dekle said. Men who exploit underage children for sex often carefully choose their victims in ways that will minimize the risk to them, he said.

may suffer from psychological problems, Dekle said.

Victims usually are from a lower social status, and they

"Lots of child sexual abuse victims have been victimized by multiple people over a period of time. Then the act of abuse produces behavior in the victims that further damages their credibility." Examples include promiscuous behavior and drug abuse.

Some of the alleged victims in the Epstein case returned to his home multiple times for the massage sessions and the $200 to $300 he typically paid them per visit.

"That would be a definite problem for the prosecutor," said Betty Resch, who prosecuted crimes against children in Palm Beach County for five years and now is in private practice in Lake Worth.

"The victim becomes less sympathetic" to a jury, Resch said. "But she's a victim nevertheless. She's a kid."

Most men charged with sex crimes against minors look normal, Dekle said. A jury expecting to see a monster seldom will. And the victims' ages work against and in favor of the defense in a trial, Dekle said.

If a child and an ad different stories and swear they're telling truth, adult jurors are likely to believe the Dekle said.

"You have all these working against you in a sex abuse case. Prosec normally try to be very ful in filing those case cause they know what the getting into. There is nothing as an iron-clad sexual abuse case."



larry_keller@pbpost.com





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EFTA00188354

Defense attorney Jack Goldberger maintains that not only did Epstein pass a polygraph test showing he did not know the girls were minors, but their stories weren't credible. The state attorney's office also implied that their credibility was an issue when it decided not to charge Epstein directly, but instead give the case to the grand jury.

"A prosecutor has to look at it in a much broader fashion," a state attorney's spokesman said last week.

Epstein hired Harvard law Professor Alan Dershowitz when he became aware he was under investigation, and Dershowitz gave prosecutors information that some of the alleged victims had spoke of using alcohol and marijuana on a popular Web site, according to a Palm Beach police report.

Prosecutors typically consider two things in deciding whether to charge somebody with sex-related offenses against minors — whether there is sufficient evidence and whether there is a public interest in doing so, Dekle said.

## America's Last Soapbox

Newspapers are a rare public forum for everyone. Make yourself heard. Express your opinion on a local or national issue in a letter to The Post...

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P.O. Box 24700

West Palm Beach, FL 33416

Fax: 561-820-4728

e-mail: letters@pbpost.com

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