December 27, 2025 • 42 mins
"I believed in the process. I thought that if we did our jobs the right way, the outcome would take care of itself. I learned that isn't always true."
In October 2005, detectives from the Palm Beach Police Department arrived at 358 El Brillo Way. Residents assumed its owner, Jeffrey Epstein, was just another wealthy resident, but officers had been keeping tabs on the mysterious financier for months and had come to suspect that he was behind a strange sexual exploitation scheme involving minors.
Evidence seized that day would form the backbone of one of the most complex sex crimes investigations in Florida history. But in that moment, detectives had no idea that what they would uncover would have ramifications far beyond what they ever imagined...
Part 3/7
Research & writing by Amelia White and Ira Rai
Hosting, production, and additional research & writing by Micheal Whelan
Learn more about this podcast at http://unresolved.me
If you would like to support this podcast, consider heading to https://www.patreon.com/unresolvedpod to become a Patron or Producer
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved--3266604/support.
In October 2005, detectives from the Palm Beach Police Department arrived at 358 El Brillo Way. Residents assumed its owner, Jeffrey Epstein, was just another wealthy resident, but officers had been keeping tabs on the mysterious financier for months and had come to suspect that he was behind a strange sexual exploitation scheme involving minors.
Evidence seized that day would form the backbone of one of the most complex sex crimes investigations in Florida history. But in that moment, detectives had no idea that what they would uncover would have ramifications far beyond what they ever imagined...
Part 3/7
Research & writing by Amelia White and Ira Rai
Hosting, production, and additional research & writing by Micheal Whelan
Learn more about this podcast at http://unresolved.me
If you would like to support this podcast, consider heading to https://www.patreon.com/unresolvedpod to become a Patron or Producer
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved--3266604/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This episode contains graphic content that may not be suitable
for all ages. Listener discretion is advised. If you or
someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available,
call or text nine eight eight or chat with someone
at nine eight eight lifeline dot Org. Those outside of
the US, reach out to someone at your local crisis
(00:24):
center or hotline. Please do not suffer in silence. In
October two thousand and five, detectives from the Palm Beach
(00:46):
Police Department arrived at three fifty eight L Brillaway, a
Mediterranean style mansion tucked between manicured hedges and the Atlantic shoreline.
The home belonged to Jeffrey Epstein, a financier whose reputationation
in town was equal parts mystery and admiration. To his neighbors,
he was just another wealthy resident in a city built
(01:07):
for discretion. To the officers standing outside his gate, he
was the subject of a disturbing complaint. Inside, investigators found
a house that operated with the discipline of an institution.
Surveillance cameras were fixed to the wall, not the kind
that monitored property lines, but the kind that recorded what
happened inside. A green massage table stood in an upstairs room,
(01:29):
next to bottles of oil, towels and cash neatly arranged
in drawers downstairs, Message pads filled with handwritten notes lay
near telephones. Many carried the same type of phrases, She's
waiting for you in the room, or brought a friend.
Police Chief Michael Rider had approved the search after weeks
(01:50):
of interviews with young women who described identical experiences, appointments
at the mansion and payments in cash, as well as
the presence of a woman with a British accent to
some some times made the calls or greeted them at
the door. Each account matched the next in detail and tone.
When detectives entered the house, the evidence confirmed what survivors
(02:10):
had described. Detective Joe Riccerrey, who led the search, later
said that the precision of the setup was what struck
him the most. It wasn't spontaneous, he told the Miami
Herald years later. Everything about it was structured. You can
tell this had been going on for a long time.
In one office, police cataloged hundreds of photographs showing young women,
(02:33):
many of them appearing to be teenagers. On the walls
hung portraits of prominent friends and public figures who had
visited the property. The juxtaposition was unsettling, wealth and depravity
sharing the same space, arranged with the same care. The
evidence seized that day would form the backbone of one
of the most complex sex crimes investigations in Florida state history.
(02:57):
But in that moment, the detectives could only record what
they saw and wait for the legal process to begin.
For the survivors who had come forward, the search represented
something they had been told not to expect, someone with
authority taking them seriously. The police called this case a
routine investigation. It was anything but. Beneath the appearance of normalcy,
(03:19):
Epstein and his cohorts had built a mechanism of exploitation
that ran with the efficiency of a corporation. Every appointment,
every payment, every phone call fit a pattern. It was,
as Detective Rickerre would later describe, a machine, one that
operated quietly, right in the open. This is the Epstein Scandal,
(03:43):
Part three, Palm Beach, you rease your aunt to two
songs where you're routine in ant an opinion. Yes, ma'am,
would you please date your full name and Jeffrey Edward
(04:05):
Epstein and my residence addressed sixty one hundred Red Hook
Boulevard in Virginilism. Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Yes?
What was the crime of which you were convicted? Two?
Pass one A Soliciting prostitution and preparing a minor for prostitution.
(04:30):
Palm Beach, Florida, was a city built to hide its boundaries.
On one side of the Intracoastal Waterway sat pastal mansions,
private clubs, and hedges trimmed tigh enough to block any
view of the street. On the other side. In West
Palm Beach, the houses were smaller, the job seasonal, the
distance between wealth and struggle only a short bridge away.
The divide was physical, but also psychological. People who crossed
(04:54):
that bridge for work did so quietly, moving in and
out of other people's luxury with practice discretion. It was
an ideal environment for someone who understood how to exploit
both privilege and need. Jeffrey Epstein purchased his Palm Beach
mansion at three fifty eight L Burlough Way in nineteen ninety.
The home covered more than fourteen thousand square feet, with
(05:15):
a guesthouse, a pool, cabana, and a dock for his boats.
It stood among estates owned by industrialists and financiers who
spent their winters behind their gates. Like the others, Epstein
kept a low profile, occasionally attending charity events but rarely
entertaining locals who did not move in his social circles.
Neighbors noticed the steady traffic of young women arriving by
(05:37):
bicycle or in cars driven by staff, but in a
community conditioned to ignore eccentricities of the wealthy, few asked questions.
A longtime resident told the Miami Herald, Palm Beach is
a town where privacy is a form of courtesy. You
don't ask what people do in their houses Across the bridge.
In neighborhoods where teenagers worked part time jobs to help
(05:58):
out their families, Epstein's offers of cash for quote unquote
massage appointments spread by word of mouth. The sums were
pretty substantial by local standards, two or three hundred dollars
for an hour of work, sometimes more if they brought
a friend with them. For girls who grew up in
modest apartments and attended public schools, that money represented opportunity.
(06:19):
They heard about it from peers who insisted it was harmless.
The class divide concealed the pattern in plain sight. On
one side were residents protected by lawyers and publicists. On
the others were families who already distrusted police and lacked
access to legal advice. When early rumors circulated about what
happened inside Jeffrey Epstein's mansion, they stayed within the margins
(06:40):
of West Palm Beach gossip. People thought it was just
one of those rich man stories, said a former local
teacher interviewed for Julie K. Brown's book, Perversion of Justice.
Nobody believed it could be organized. They thought if it
were real, someone important would have stopped it. Inside three
fifty eight El Brillough Way, everything functioned according to plan.
(07:02):
Staff kept detailed schedules in the house was maintained to
appear immaculate. The rules established by Jeffrey Epstein and his
longtime partner Galine Maxwell were clear. Guests entered in through
a side door, cash payments were left near the exit,
and employees were not to make eye contact or engage
in conversation with any of their visitors. Juan Alisi, who
(07:23):
managed the property for several years, later testified that he
kept a supply of two hundred dollars in cash ready
at all times because the bell rang constantly. This environment
of order and silence gave the operations durability. The victims,
drawn from the working class neighborhoods across the bridge, were
unlikely to cross paths with the people who attended Epstein's
(07:44):
dinners or funded as charities. They existed in completely separate economies.
When they left the mansion, they returned to a world
that could not imagine what existed behind those gates. Detective
Joe Riccerrey, who began investigating the case in two thousand
and five, later said that understanding Palm Beach's geography was
essential to understanding how Epstein operated. Pick this place for
(08:06):
a reason, Rickerrey told a local reporter, you can run
an entire business out of a mansion here, and as
long as the lawns are cut and the parties are quiet,
no one's going to notice. That division also shaped the
investigation that followed. The police department in Palm Beach was small,
with limited resources. Rickarrey and his team relied on persistence
(08:27):
more than technology, visiting schools and convincing reluctant witnesses to
speak to them. The pattern they uncovered revealed how one
man's wealth could exploit an entire community's social design. It
(09:00):
began with an invitation. One girl would tell another that
a wealthy man in Palm Beach paid cash for massages.
There was never any mention of abuse, only the suggestion
of opportunity. The recruiter received a bonus for bringing in
a friend, usually one hundred or two hundred dollars. The
new arrival, often a teenager, would be driven to three
(09:22):
fifty eight l brillau Way, greeted at the side entrance,
and led upstairs to a room with a massage table, oils,
and towels. The first visit always seemed strange, but not
immediately threatening. Jeffrey Epstein would begin with conversation, asking about
the girl's school or her family, offering to help with
tuition or modeling ambitions. Galas Maxwell was often present, introducing
(09:45):
herself as a friend or an assistant. She made it
sound professional. One survivor told the Miami Herald, she said
it was just a massage, that I'd be helping him
relax after work. What happened next followed a script that
repeated across the dozens of statements collected by police and prosecutors.
In sworn affidavits, victims described how the situation changed mid session,
(10:08):
how Epstein would expose himself or instruct the girls to
undress under the pretense of a massage. Some said Glenn
Maxwell remained in the room, giving orders or performing demonstrations
that made refusal seem impossible. One witness leader told detectives
she said, you have to learn what he likes. I
remember thinking she's the adult here. Maybe this is normal.
(10:31):
The girls were paid in cash immediately afterward. For many,
the confusion of the first encounter was tempered by the
relief of the money in their hand. Some returned unable
to process what had happened, or maybe they just really
needed the money. Others brought friends, convinced it was an
easy way to earn This cycle recruitment, payment repetition formed
(10:52):
what investigators later called a pyramid of exploitation. Each girl
became a link in the chain that extended Epstein's reach
while diffusing accountability. Galin Maxwell's role in the recruitment process
was documented repeatedly in interviews and court testimony. Victims remembered
her as the organizer who coordinated schedules and maintained contact
(11:12):
by phone. She called me to set up the appointments,
said one woman identified in court records as Jane do One.
She told me what time to come and where to go.
It was always very specific. Maxwell's tone, survivor said, was
polite but authoritative. The calls sounded like routine office logistics,
not the coordination of a crime. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghaline
(11:35):
Maxwell paid attention to presentation. They encouraged the girls to
believe they were part of something selective, even something professional.
Survivors were called being complimented on their appearance or their intelligence,
being told that they were special or mature for their age.
Virginia Giuffrey told the Miami Herald, he made me feel
like I was chosen. That's how he trapped you. You
(11:58):
thought you were lucky. Appointments were logged in message pads,
cash stored in labeled envelopes. Employees were instructed never to
ask for names or ages. Some staff members later said
that they suspected the girls were under age, but feared
questioning their employer. Others insisted that they believed the visits
were legitimate massages. Even those inside the house struggled to
(12:21):
describe what they had seen. It was, as one investigator
later wrote, perhaps poorly, a well oiled operation disguised as
ordinary service. The normalization extended beyond the mansion. The girls
who accepted money often rationalized the experience as awkward but tolerable,
not something that should be reported. Oftentimes, shame and disbelief
(12:44):
kept them silent. Those who did speak up were sometimes
dismissed by adults who assumed their stories were exaggerated. The
environment of wealth and respectability surrounding Jeffrey Epstein made the
accounts sound implausible. When Palm Beach detectives eventually began gas
during statements, they were struck by the consistency. Each young
woman described the same setting, the same script, the same
(13:07):
pattern of payment. Chief Michael Rider later told reporters it
was like reading the same chapter written by different people.
The stories matched down to the smallest details, the staircase,
the room layout, the cash envelope, the smell of the oils.
In legal terms, these details constituted evidence of a pattern.
(13:27):
Epstein and Maxwell had built an apparatus that turned exploitation
into routine, and routine into invisibility. Every part of the process,
the recruitment, the normalization, the silence, afterward, was designed to
look ordinary. By the time investigators finally uncovered the structure,
it had been operating for years, sustained by money, intimidation,
(13:49):
and the complacency of a community that assumed such things
could not happen in their midst Palm Beach's unspoken rule
of privacy had become Jeffrey Epstein's greatest protection. His machine
worked precisely because it did not look like one. The
smooth functioning of Jeffrey Epstein's operation in Palm Beach depended
(14:09):
on a network of staff who enforced his rules and
kept their observations to themselves. They were drivers, housekeepers, gardeners,
and assistants, many of whom had worked for wealthy employers before.
What made his household different was its precision. Everything ran
on schedules, and every task came with an unspoken warning,
(14:30):
do not ask questions. When police interviewed employees after the
two thousand and five search of three fifty eight L.
Brillaugh Way, they found that the staff's stories fit together
as neatly as the victim's accounts. Everyone described the same
atmosphere of order and secrecy. Juan Elisi, who had managed
the mansion through much of the nineteen nineties. Told investigators
(14:50):
that Epstein's arrival in town transformed the property into a
workplace where silence was expected. We had to behave professionally,
he said. In his deposition. You never looked mister Epstein
in the eye, and you never talked to the guest
unless spoken to. Alisi said that Glene Maxwell was the
real manager. She issued daily instructions, corrected mistakes, and handled
(15:13):
staff discipline. If I did something wrong, she would tell
me in front of everyone. Elisei testified she wanted control.
Under Maxwell's supervision, the staff created what police later called
a logistical grid, a system that kept the operation running
without interruption. Every appointment, every delivery, every visitor was recorded.
(15:35):
Cash was left in the kitchen drawer for payments. Notes
on message pads later recovered by police documented the daily
rhythm she is coming after school, has a friend today,
Please have two hundred dollars ready. Stuff like that. To
the staff, the instructions were not legal commands, but household routines.
They cleaned the rooms and restock supplies, assuming the money
(15:58):
was part of a private arrangement that did not concern them.
Their obedience was reinforced by fear of losing employment, and
by the culture of Palm Beach service work, where discretion
was the most valued skill. Many lived across the bridge
in West Palm Beach and depended on their jobs. Questioning
an employer known for wealth and connections was unthinkable, But
(16:19):
even then, some employees did notice that the visitors seemed young.
A driver later told detectives that most of the girls
looked like they were still in high school. A housekeeper
described a constant flow of young women, maybe sixteen or seventeen.
None filed police reports at the time. When asked why,
house manager Juana Lissi, replied simply, I didn't want to
(16:41):
lose my job. Detective Joe Riccerrey, who led many of
the interviews, later said that the employee's consistency confirmed how
well the system had been built. He later told the
pomp Beach Post. Every witness described the same pattern. It
was all documented, organized and controlled. There were rules for everything,
even how to hand over the cash. When the case
(17:03):
finally reached court, some employees expressed regret for their silence.
I wish I had said something, one former assistant told
The Guardian in twenty nineteen, but at the time I
told myself, it wasn't my business. You just don't question
people like that. In Palm Beach, the case that would
(17:42):
unravel Jeffrey Epstein's system began not listing operation or a
journalist investigation, but with a mother who refused to dismiss
her daughter's confusion as a misunderstanding. In March two thousand
and five, she walked in the pomp Beach Police department
with a story that at first seemed implausible even to
experienced officers. Her fourteen year old daughter had returned from
(18:05):
a friend's house with several hundred dollars in cash and
an explanation that did not make sense. The girl said
she had given a massage to a man in a
mansion on El Brillaway. Chief Michael Ryder assigned the complaint
to Detective Joe Riccarrey, a veteran investigator known for his
patients and attention to detail. Ricarry began with a single interview.
(18:25):
The girl, who was nervous and embarrassed, described a sequence
that matched the pattern detectives would later hear again and
again that she had been invited by an older friend,
told she could make quick money giving massages, and was
driven to a large house where she met an older
man who introduced himself as Jeffrey. Inside the house, she said,
a woman with a British accent had greeted them and
(18:47):
led them upstairs. What happened next, she said, was not
what she had been told to expect. Ricarry listened to
the girl's account, took notes, and told the girl that
she had done the right thing by speaking to him.
He later said that her her testimony was calm and detailed.
The story was credible, but the suspect's name, Jeffrey Epstein,
meant little to local officers. They learned quickly that he
(19:10):
was not a typical resident. He was a multi millionaire,
maybe even a billionaire, with homes in multiple states and
connections that stretched into national politics. So for that reason,
the detective began quietly interviewing the friend that had recruited
this girl. She admitted that she too had given massages
at Jeffrey Epstein's house, and that she had brought others,
(19:32):
receiving money for each referral. She named more girls, some
as young as thirteen years old, each seemingly led to another.
The pattern formed within weeks, linked by cash payments and
repeated visits as well as the presence of Galeide Maxwell
or other staff who coordinated schedules. Detective Rickerry understood the
(19:54):
sensitivity of what he was uncovering. Jeffrey Epstein's wealth and
status meant that any mistake could collapsed the case before
it truly began. He built trust with each young victim,
conducting interviews with care and documenting every statement. We had
to prove not just that something happened, he later told
the pompeag Post, but that it was part of a system.
(20:15):
This wasn't one incident, it was an operation. By late spring,
the list of potential victims had grown to more than
a dozen. Some were too frightened to speak, Others described
their experiences in blunt, factual terms. The repetition of detail,
how they were recruited, the layout of the house, the
envelopes of cash left little room for coincidence. Rockerry reported
(20:38):
his findings to chief Writer, who authorized a full investigation.
As the evidence expanded, so did the resistance. Jeffrey Epstein's
lawyers began contacting the police department, questioning the investigation's scope
and warning of potential defamation. The detectives pressed forward anyway,
conducting surveillance on the mansion and collecting an additional witness statements.
(21:01):
One afternoon, as Detective Rickarrey left the police station, a
private investigator hired by Jeffrey Epstein followed him home. Chief
Writer later confirmed that the department was being watched. They
wanted us to know they were watching. He said. It
was a message that intimidation did not stop the investigation.
Detective Rockerrey's team built its case piece by piece with
(21:24):
phone records, photographs, staff testimony. In June two thousand and five,
they drafted an affidavit seeking a warrant to search three
fifty eight L Brillaway. The document cited multiple consistent statements
describing sexual acts involving miners and payments made immediately afterward.
Judge CHRISTA. Marx signed the warrant. On October twentieth, two
(21:47):
thousand and five, Palm Beach Police executed their search. The
evidence they collected confirmed what the first mother had reported
months earlier. There were message pads filled with notes in
staff handwriting, hundreds of photographs of young women, even stacks
of cash near the exits her Detective Ricarrey the case
remained personal that mom, he told the Miami herald years later,
(22:10):
speaking about the original mom that gave him the report.
She was the reason it all started. If she hadn't
walked in, this might still be going on. Her decision
to speak forced an institution that had long deferred to
wealth to confront it directly. The first complaint became a
map for the detectives who followed. It also revealed how
(22:31):
vulnerable the system was to something as ordinary as a
parent simply paying attention. What Epstein and Maxwell had built
over a decade, a machine of secrecy and control, began
to fail the moment someone outside it asked a simple question,
where did this money come from? When the Palm Beach
Police Department formally opened its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in
(22:52):
the summer of two thousand and five, Chief Michael Ryder
and Detective Joe Riccarrey understood that the task ahead would
test the limits of a small town force confronting a
man with global connections. Within months, their file had grown
from a single complaint to a complex record of dozens
of overlapping accounts. As the list of potential victims grew,
Detective Rocarrie asked the department to allocate more personnel officers
(23:16):
conducted surveillance on the mansion and recorded the stream of visitors.
The activity was constant. A car would arrive, a young
girl would enter through a side door, and within an
hour she would leave carrying an envelope. It was a routine.
Rucerrie later said, we could have set our watches to it.
Chief Writers supported the investigation despite growing external pressure. Epstein's
(23:39):
attorneys had already begun contacting city officials, questioning the legality
of surveillance and hinting at political consequences if the inquiry continued.
Writer refused to yield. He later told the Miami Herald,
we treat everyone the same, whether they live on the
island or across the bridge. As the interviews accumulated, the
(24:00):
department's evidence room filled with binders of transcripts, photographs, and
call sheets, Rackerry compiled a chronology linking victims and their recruiters.
It was the first complete map of Epstein's Palm Beach operation.
Every line of connections strengthened the conclusion that what they
were investigating was not an isolated pattern of misconduct, but
(24:20):
an organized system. Writer prepared to present the findings to
the State Attorney's office, expecting a pretty straightforward prosecution. We
had victims willing to testify, physical evidence, corroborating witnesses, and
a clear pattern, he said in a twenty eighteen interview.
We thought that was enough. The state's response surprised him.
(24:42):
Prosecutors asked for additional corroboration and expressed concern about the
reliability of teenage witnesses. Epstein's attorneys, among them Alan Dershowitz
and Roy Black, were already engaging privately with state officials.
They questioned the credibility of the victims and argued that
Jeffrey that Epstein was the target of a misunderstanding magnified
(25:03):
by envy of wealth. Despite these headwins, Chief Writer pushed forward.
The department drafted probable cause affidavits recommending multiple felony counts,
including unlawful sexual activity with miners and lewd and lavicious acts.
The documentation filled several volumes. Each victim was identified by
(25:23):
a pseudonym to protect her identity. By early two thousand
and six, the local police had done everything expected of them.
They had taken testimony from five victims willing to appear
in court, and had corroborated their statements through physical evidence
and staff accounts. Chief Writer later recalled the optimism of
that moment. We thought the hardest part was over. We
(25:44):
thought now the system would take over and do its job.
The system, however, was about to shift in ways that
none of them anticipated. When the case file moved from
the police department to the pomp Beach County State Attorney's Office,
the momentum changed. Prosecutors met repeating with Epstein's legal team
behind closed doors. Request for additional witness interviews delayed the
(26:05):
filing of charges. The detectives, who had spent a year
assembling the evidence, began to sense that their work was
being quietly neutralized. In February two thousand and six, when
Chief Writer delivered his final summary report to the State
Attorney's office, it was over four hundred pages long included
a note at the end that read, simply, this is
an ongoing criminal enterprise operating in our jurisdiction. His expectation
(26:30):
was that Jeffrey Epstein would be charged with multiple felonies. Instead,
within weeks, rumors circulated that the state was considering misdemeanor
counts or even a deferred prosecution agreement. Chief Writer and
detective Rickerrey had confronted the machinery of power for the
first time and found that it was not on their side.
The next phase of the case would show how influence
(26:52):
and reputation could dismantle years of careful police work. What
had begun as a clear pattern of exploitation was about
to become a king study and how justice can be
negotiated away. When the Palm Beach Police submitted their case
file to the State Attorney's office in early two thousand
and six, they believed the evidence was sufficient for felony charges.
(27:13):
Within weeks, they realized that they had stepped into a
political and legal fight far beyond their jurisdiction. Jeffrey Epstein
responded to the investigation the way he responded to every threat,
by surrounding himself with power. His defense team assembled quickly.
It included Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black Ken Starr, Gerald Lefcourt,
(27:34):
and Jay Lefkowitz, lawyers known for high profile victories and
for their access to judges, prosecutors, and politicians. From the start,
they adopted a strategy that blended legal argument with intimidation.
They questioned the credibility of victims, suggested that local police
had mishandled evidence and accused the department of bias. Behind
(27:56):
closed doors, they met repeatedly with prosecutors pressing for lenancy
while reminding them of their client's resources. Detective Joe Rickerry
later described the shift in atmosphere. It stopped feeling like
an investigation and started feeling like a negotiation, he told
the Miami Herald. Every time we moved forward, another lawyer appeared.
(28:16):
Chief Michael Rider agreed. He said that state prosecutors who
had initially promised cooperation began requesting delays and additional evidence
instead of filing charges. It was clear the defense was
being heard in places we weren't invited to. Writer recalled.
Alan Dershowitz, who had taught law at Harvard for decades,
(28:36):
became the most visible member of the team. He appeared
on television defending Epstein's character, calling him a brilliant man
who did not deserve to be vilified before trial. In
later interviews, Dershowitz said he believed that the police had
overreached and that the accusations were exaggerated. His public comments
helped shift the narrative from potential predator to wealthy target.
(28:59):
Inside floor, as legal circles. The defense team's influence was unmistakable.
Epstein's lawyers arranged private meetings with Barry Kreischer, the Palm
Beach County State Attorney. They challenged the police department's jurisdiction
and threatened civil suits against anyone who leaked information to
the press. They also commissioned their own private investigators to
(29:19):
follow officers, victims, and journalists. Detective Rickerry confirmed that he
and his colleagues were watched. You'd see the same cars
outside the station, the same faces at the diner. He said.
They wanted us to know they could reach us. Despite
this pressure, the detectives continued to push for full prosecution.
They worked with the FBI to expand their investigation, recognizing
(29:42):
that many of Epstein's activities likely crossed state lines. The
federal inquiry, code named Operation Leap Year, began in mid
two thousand and six. Even so, local progress slowed. Months
passed without formal charges. When the state Attorney's office finned
only filed an information sheet, it listed only one count
(30:03):
of solicitation of prostitution and one count of procurement of
miners for prostitution, both misdemeanors. Chief writer was outraged. In
a memo to Kreischer dated May two thousand and six,
he wrote, I strongly object to the reduced charges. The
evidence clearly supports multiple felony counts. He also took the
(30:24):
rare step of referring the case to federal prosecutors bypassing
the state entirely. It was the only option left, he
said later, if the local system wouldn't act, maybe Washington would.
The referral triggered a new phase, but it also exposed
how influence could travel across institutions. Epstein's lawyers began negotiating
(30:44):
directly with the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District
of Florida, led by Alexander Acosta. They argued that their
client was being unfairly targeted and that the accusations lacked corroboration.
They proposed a plea deal that would avoid federal charges
in its change for Epstein's cooperation on unrelated cases. The
idea of cooperation introduced another layer of rumor, one that
(31:08):
would later fuel speculation about Epstein's supposed ties to intelligence,
but that's something we'll touch on in another episode. While
negotiations continued, Jeffrey Epstein maintained his routine. He jogged along
Palm Beach's waterfront, he attended dinners. He even told friends
that the case was just a big misunderstanding. His attorneys
(31:28):
told reporters that he was confident the matter would be resolved.
In that confidence lay the real imbalance of power. The
victims had no legal representation and no knowledge of the
discussions that would decide the outcome of the case. Their statements,
collected at great emotional cost, were being weighed against the
convenience of avoiding conflict with an influential defendant. In December
(31:50):
two thousand and six, the FBI formally opened its case file,
listing possible charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy. Internally, federal
agent believed they had a solid case, with one former
agent telling the Miami Herald the evidence was strong enough
for one hundred years in prison. We thought we were
about to make history. Yet the federal prosecution never came.
(32:13):
Over the next year, negotiations between Epstein's lawyers and Accosta's
office produced one of the most controversial plea deals in
American legal history. Police chief Writer watched the process unfold
with disbelief. It was like watching a slow motion reversal.
He said later, we had proof, we had victims, and
somehow the focus became on protecting the defendant's rights instead
(32:35):
of the victims' rights. His frustration echoed what the survivors
would express in later years that the system seemed designed
not to serve justice, but to manage it. The counter
offensive worked because it operated on two fronts. In public,
Epstein's lawyers portrayed him as a generous philanthropist misunderstood by
ambitious detectives. In private, they used his wealth and his
(32:59):
influence to dismantle the case piece by piece. By the
time the final agreement was drafted, Epstein had secured something extraordinary,
immunity from federal prosecution, not only for himself but also
for unnamed potential co conspirators. The machine that Jeffrey Epstein
and Gallaine Maxwell had built in their homes was now
(33:19):
mirrored in the legal system itself. Secrecy and coordination had
once again protected them, and for the investigators who had
spent a year gathering evidence, the message was unmistakable. With
enough money, you could rewrite the rules of America itself.
(33:47):
By late two thousand and six, Chief Michael Rider and
Detective Joe Roccerrey understood that local prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein
was slipping out of their hands. The Palm Beach County
State Attorney's office had stalled, and Estein's lawyers had shifted
the fight to a new arena. So Chief Writer made
a decision that few local chiefs ever make. He wrote
(34:07):
a formal letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation asking
for help. In it, he said the crimes described by
the victims appeared across state lines and therefore warranted federal jurisdiction.
So the FBI opened an inquiry in July two thousand
and six under the name Operation leap Ear. Federal agents
began interviewing witnesses, collecting flight manifest and reviewing financial records
(34:30):
that showed payments to recruiters and assistants. What they uncovered
confirmed the police findings and extended them. The pattern of
behavior stretched from not only pomp Beach, Florida, to New
York and New Mexico. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District
of Florida began drafting possible charges that included sex trafficking
and conspiracy. For a moment, it seemed that the momentum
(34:52):
had returned. We thought the Feds would do what the
state wouldn't. Rickerry later told the pomp Beach Post they
had the resources, the power, in the distance from local politics.
Survivors felt the same. Several told the reporters that they
believed the federal case would bring accountability that the local
system had denied them. Instead, negotiations began. Epstein's defense team
(35:14):
met privately with federal prosecutors. The meetings were not disclosed
to the victims or to the Pompeach Police writer and
Rickerry heard only fragments through legal channels and rumors in
the press. We were out of the loop, writers said later.
All we could do was wait. In June two thousand
and eight, news broke that Jeffrey Epstein had reached a
(35:36):
plea agreement. He would plead guilty in state court to
two counts of solicitation, serving thirteen months in the county
jail before registering as a sex offender, and paying restitution
to selected victims. In return, federal prosecutors agreed not to
pursue further charges. The document that sealed the arrangement was
called a non prosecution agreement. The details of the end
(36:00):
PA were not immediately public, but its impact was clear.
Epstein's time in custody would be minimal, his daily privileges extraordinary.
It was permitted to leave the jail six days a
week for quote unquote work release, spending up to twelve
hours a day at his office in downtown West Palm Beach.
He continued to host visitors and manage his finances while
(36:22):
being barely incarcerated. For the survivors, the deal was devastating.
None had been informed of its terms before it was signed,
a violation of the Federal Crime Victim's Rights Act. Many
first learned of it through newspaper articles. We didn't even
know there was a deal until it was over, said
Courtney Wilde, who was sixteen when she first met Epstein.
(36:44):
They told us we would have our day in court,
and then suddenly there was no court left. Chief Writer
called a press conference to express his dismay. He told
reporters the outcome was inconsistent with the evidence we collected.
It sends a message that money can buy a different
and of justice. His remarks were unusual for a sitting
police chief, but he wanted the record to reflect that
(37:06):
his department had not consented to the result. Behind closed doors.
The detectives who had built the case felt demoralized. Rockeri
would later say, I had to look those girls in
the eye and tell them we did everything we could.
It didn't feel like enough. The files that had taken
more than a year to compile now sat in federal archives.
(37:28):
The investigation effectively sealed Jeffrey Epstein's release a year later
completed the cycle. He returned to as many homes and
resumed his routines, his reputation bruised but intact. For the
young women who had come forward, there was no closure,
only the knowledge that the system had bent around the
man who had controlled them. The same power that had
(37:49):
allowed him to build his machine had now reproduced itself
in the halls of justice. The federal agreement would remain
secret for another decade, its existence revealed only after journalists
and lawyers fought to unseal it. By then, most of
these survivors had built lives around silence. We thought it
was over, said one woman interviewed by the Miami Herald
(38:10):
in twenty eighteen. We thought that was what justice looked
like for people like us. When Jeffrey Epstein's plea deal
(38:36):
went into effect in two thousand and eight, Palm Beach
was forced to confront the uncomfortable truth that its own
institutions had failed. The people who lived there had long
prided themselves on civility and order, on the notion that
the rule of law protected everyone equally. The Epstein case
single handedly shattered that illusion. It revealed a system that
(38:56):
responded differently to power, one in which a man with
enough money and the right lawyers could bend justice into
something unrecognizable. Chief Michael Rider, who had initiated the original investigation,
announced his retirement soon after the plea was finalized. He
had spent thirty years in law enforcement and had never
seen a case like this. Speaking later to the Miami Herald,
(39:19):
he stated, I believed in the process. I thought that
if we did our jobs the right way, the outcome
would take care of itself. I learned that isn't always true.
His department had gathered evidence, protected witnesses, and presented a
clear record, none of it had been enough. Detective Joe
Roccerrey felt the same way. He had interviewed dozens of victims,
(39:41):
each one telling a story that matched the next. When
the case collapsed into a plea, deal negotiated behind closed doors.
He realized how little power local investigators had once politics
and money entered the equation. We built it, he said
about the case in two thousand and nine, and they
tore it apart. In the neighborhoods across the bridge. The
(40:02):
consequences were more personal. The girls and young women who
had come forward returned to their schools and jobs carrying
the knowledge that their testimony had been traded away. Some
refused further interviews, others withdrew from contact altogether. One survivor
later told the Palm Beach Post it felt like being
(40:22):
used twice, first by him speaking of Epstein, then by
the system. The local press covered Geoffrey Epstein's sentencing as
a minor story. He served thirteen months in the County jail,
a facility designed for short term offenders. Reporters who attempt
to follow up on his daily work release privileges found
him leaving the jail in the morning and returning late
(40:44):
at night. His office, listed as a charitable foundation, continued
to receive visitors. The arrangement was technically legal under the
terms of the plea, but defied the spirit of incarceration
in the court house, the language of law, Laus stanitized
what had actually happened. Jeffrey Epstein was referred to as
a first time offender. His crimes were called solicitation. The
(41:09):
word miner appeared in the filings, but not in the
press releases. The vocabulary of power turned exploitation into something administrative.
The families who had trusted the system watched from a
distance as the man they had accused resumed his life
almost completely unchanged. Over time, the case became a local
parable about how influence operates in plain sight. Residents of
(41:32):
Palm Beach rarely spoke about it publicly, but in private conversations,
the name Epstein became shorthand for corruption that money could buy.
Police officers who had worked the investigation used it as
an example for new recruits, a cautionary tale about how
a case could be right in fact and wrong in outcome.
Years later, when journalist Julie kpe Brown reopened the story,
(41:54):
she began with the same question rire Kerry had asked
himself in two thousand and five, How had this gone
unknown for so long? Her reporting revealed what the victims
already knew. That the failure was not hidden at all.
It was recorded in letters, in filings, meeting notes, visible
to anyone who chose to read them. The officers who
(42:15):
had built the original case took no satisfaction in the
renewed attention a decade later. It's not vindication, chief writer
told the Miami Herald. Nothing fixes what happened to those girls.
This episode contains graphic content that may not be suitable
for all ages. Listener discretion is advised. If you or
someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available,
call or text nine eight eight or chat with someone
at nine eight eight lifeline dot Org. Those outside of
the US, reach out to someone at your local crisis
(00:24):
center or hotline. Please do not suffer in silence. In
October two thousand and five, detectives from the Palm Beach
(00:46):
Police Department arrived at three fifty eight L Brillaway, a
Mediterranean style mansion tucked between manicured hedges and the Atlantic shoreline.
The home belonged to Jeffrey Epstein, a financier whose reputationation
in town was equal parts mystery and admiration. To his neighbors,
he was just another wealthy resident in a city built
(01:07):
for discretion. To the officers standing outside his gate, he
was the subject of a disturbing complaint. Inside, investigators found
a house that operated with the discipline of an institution.
Surveillance cameras were fixed to the wall, not the kind
that monitored property lines, but the kind that recorded what
happened inside. A green massage table stood in an upstairs room,
(01:29):
next to bottles of oil, towels and cash neatly arranged
in drawers downstairs, Message pads filled with handwritten notes lay
near telephones. Many carried the same type of phrases, She's
waiting for you in the room, or brought a friend.
Police Chief Michael Rider had approved the search after weeks
(01:50):
of interviews with young women who described identical experiences, appointments
at the mansion and payments in cash, as well as
the presence of a woman with a British accent to
some some times made the calls or greeted them at
the door. Each account matched the next in detail and tone.
When detectives entered the house, the evidence confirmed what survivors
(02:10):
had described. Detective Joe Riccerrey, who led the search, later
said that the precision of the setup was what struck
him the most. It wasn't spontaneous, he told the Miami
Herald years later. Everything about it was structured. You can
tell this had been going on for a long time.
In one office, police cataloged hundreds of photographs showing young women,
(02:33):
many of them appearing to be teenagers. On the walls
hung portraits of prominent friends and public figures who had
visited the property. The juxtaposition was unsettling, wealth and depravity
sharing the same space, arranged with the same care. The
evidence seized that day would form the backbone of one
of the most complex sex crimes investigations in Florida state history.
(02:57):
But in that moment, the detectives could only record what
they saw and wait for the legal process to begin.
For the survivors who had come forward, the search represented
something they had been told not to expect, someone with
authority taking them seriously. The police called this case a
routine investigation. It was anything but. Beneath the appearance of normalcy,
(03:19):
Epstein and his cohorts had built a mechanism of exploitation
that ran with the efficiency of a corporation. Every appointment,
every payment, every phone call fit a pattern. It was,
as Detective Rickerre would later describe, a machine, one that
operated quietly, right in the open. This is the Epstein Scandal,
(03:43):
Part three, Palm Beach, you rease your aunt to two
songs where you're routine in ant an opinion. Yes, ma'am,
would you please date your full name and Jeffrey Edward
(04:05):
Epstein and my residence addressed sixty one hundred Red Hook
Boulevard in Virginilism. Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Yes?
What was the crime of which you were convicted? Two?
Pass one A Soliciting prostitution and preparing a minor for prostitution.
(04:30):
Palm Beach, Florida, was a city built to hide its boundaries.
On one side of the Intracoastal Waterway sat pastal mansions,
private clubs, and hedges trimmed tigh enough to block any
view of the street. On the other side. In West
Palm Beach, the houses were smaller, the job seasonal, the
distance between wealth and struggle only a short bridge away.
The divide was physical, but also psychological. People who crossed
(04:54):
that bridge for work did so quietly, moving in and
out of other people's luxury with practice discretion. It was
an ideal environment for someone who understood how to exploit
both privilege and need. Jeffrey Epstein purchased his Palm Beach
mansion at three fifty eight L Burlough Way in nineteen ninety.
The home covered more than fourteen thousand square feet, with
(05:15):
a guesthouse, a pool, cabana, and a dock for his boats.
It stood among estates owned by industrialists and financiers who
spent their winters behind their gates. Like the others, Epstein
kept a low profile, occasionally attending charity events but rarely
entertaining locals who did not move in his social circles.
Neighbors noticed the steady traffic of young women arriving by
(05:37):
bicycle or in cars driven by staff, but in a
community conditioned to ignore eccentricities of the wealthy, few asked questions.
A longtime resident told the Miami Herald, Palm Beach is
a town where privacy is a form of courtesy. You
don't ask what people do in their houses Across the bridge.
In neighborhoods where teenagers worked part time jobs to help
(05:58):
out their families, Epstein's offers of cash for quote unquote
massage appointments spread by word of mouth. The sums were
pretty substantial by local standards, two or three hundred dollars
for an hour of work, sometimes more if they brought
a friend with them. For girls who grew up in
modest apartments and attended public schools, that money represented opportunity.
(06:19):
They heard about it from peers who insisted it was harmless.
The class divide concealed the pattern in plain sight. On
one side were residents protected by lawyers and publicists. On
the others were families who already distrusted police and lacked
access to legal advice. When early rumors circulated about what
happened inside Jeffrey Epstein's mansion, they stayed within the margins
(06:40):
of West Palm Beach gossip. People thought it was just
one of those rich man stories, said a former local
teacher interviewed for Julie K. Brown's book, Perversion of Justice.
Nobody believed it could be organized. They thought if it
were real, someone important would have stopped it. Inside three
fifty eight El Brillough Way, everything functioned according to plan.
(07:02):
Staff kept detailed schedules in the house was maintained to
appear immaculate. The rules established by Jeffrey Epstein and his
longtime partner Galine Maxwell were clear. Guests entered in through
a side door, cash payments were left near the exit,
and employees were not to make eye contact or engage
in conversation with any of their visitors. Juan Alisi, who
(07:23):
managed the property for several years, later testified that he
kept a supply of two hundred dollars in cash ready
at all times because the bell rang constantly. This environment
of order and silence gave the operations durability. The victims,
drawn from the working class neighborhoods across the bridge, were
unlikely to cross paths with the people who attended Epstein's
(07:44):
dinners or funded as charities. They existed in completely separate economies.
When they left the mansion, they returned to a world
that could not imagine what existed behind those gates. Detective
Joe Riccerrey, who began investigating the case in two thousand
and five, later said that understanding Palm Beach's geography was
essential to understanding how Epstein operated. Pick this place for
(08:06):
a reason, Rickerrey told a local reporter, you can run
an entire business out of a mansion here, and as
long as the lawns are cut and the parties are quiet,
no one's going to notice. That division also shaped the
investigation that followed. The police department in Palm Beach was small,
with limited resources. Rickarrey and his team relied on persistence
(08:27):
more than technology, visiting schools and convincing reluctant witnesses to
speak to them. The pattern they uncovered revealed how one
man's wealth could exploit an entire community's social design. It
(09:00):
began with an invitation. One girl would tell another that
a wealthy man in Palm Beach paid cash for massages.
There was never any mention of abuse, only the suggestion
of opportunity. The recruiter received a bonus for bringing in
a friend, usually one hundred or two hundred dollars. The
new arrival, often a teenager, would be driven to three
(09:22):
fifty eight l brillau Way, greeted at the side entrance,
and led upstairs to a room with a massage table, oils,
and towels. The first visit always seemed strange, but not
immediately threatening. Jeffrey Epstein would begin with conversation, asking about
the girl's school or her family, offering to help with
tuition or modeling ambitions. Galas Maxwell was often present, introducing
(09:45):
herself as a friend or an assistant. She made it
sound professional. One survivor told the Miami Herald, she said
it was just a massage, that I'd be helping him
relax after work. What happened next followed a script that
repeated across the dozens of statements collected by police and prosecutors.
In sworn affidavits, victims described how the situation changed mid session,
(10:08):
how Epstein would expose himself or instruct the girls to
undress under the pretense of a massage. Some said Glenn
Maxwell remained in the room, giving orders or performing demonstrations
that made refusal seem impossible. One witness leader told detectives
she said, you have to learn what he likes. I
remember thinking she's the adult here. Maybe this is normal.
(10:31):
The girls were paid in cash immediately afterward. For many,
the confusion of the first encounter was tempered by the
relief of the money in their hand. Some returned unable
to process what had happened, or maybe they just really
needed the money. Others brought friends, convinced it was an
easy way to earn This cycle recruitment, payment repetition formed
(10:52):
what investigators later called a pyramid of exploitation. Each girl
became a link in the chain that extended Epstein's reach
while diffusing accountability. Galin Maxwell's role in the recruitment process
was documented repeatedly in interviews and court testimony. Victims remembered
her as the organizer who coordinated schedules and maintained contact
(11:12):
by phone. She called me to set up the appointments,
said one woman identified in court records as Jane do One.
She told me what time to come and where to go.
It was always very specific. Maxwell's tone, survivor said, was
polite but authoritative. The calls sounded like routine office logistics,
not the coordination of a crime. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghaline
(11:35):
Maxwell paid attention to presentation. They encouraged the girls to
believe they were part of something selective, even something professional.
Survivors were called being complimented on their appearance or their intelligence,
being told that they were special or mature for their age.
Virginia Giuffrey told the Miami Herald, he made me feel
like I was chosen. That's how he trapped you. You
(11:58):
thought you were lucky. Appointments were logged in message pads,
cash stored in labeled envelopes. Employees were instructed never to
ask for names or ages. Some staff members later said
that they suspected the girls were under age, but feared
questioning their employer. Others insisted that they believed the visits
were legitimate massages. Even those inside the house struggled to
(12:21):
describe what they had seen. It was, as one investigator
later wrote, perhaps poorly, a well oiled operation disguised as
ordinary service. The normalization extended beyond the mansion. The girls
who accepted money often rationalized the experience as awkward but tolerable,
not something that should be reported. Oftentimes, shame and disbelief
(12:44):
kept them silent. Those who did speak up were sometimes
dismissed by adults who assumed their stories were exaggerated. The
environment of wealth and respectability surrounding Jeffrey Epstein made the
accounts sound implausible. When Palm Beach detectives eventually began gas
during statements, they were struck by the consistency. Each young
woman described the same setting, the same script, the same
(13:07):
pattern of payment. Chief Michael Rider later told reporters it
was like reading the same chapter written by different people.
The stories matched down to the smallest details, the staircase,
the room layout, the cash envelope, the smell of the oils.
In legal terms, these details constituted evidence of a pattern.
(13:27):
Epstein and Maxwell had built an apparatus that turned exploitation
into routine, and routine into invisibility. Every part of the process,
the recruitment, the normalization, the silence, afterward, was designed to
look ordinary. By the time investigators finally uncovered the structure,
it had been operating for years, sustained by money, intimidation,
(13:49):
and the complacency of a community that assumed such things
could not happen in their midst Palm Beach's unspoken rule
of privacy had become Jeffrey Epstein's greatest protection. His machine
worked precisely because it did not look like one. The
smooth functioning of Jeffrey Epstein's operation in Palm Beach depended
(14:09):
on a network of staff who enforced his rules and
kept their observations to themselves. They were drivers, housekeepers, gardeners,
and assistants, many of whom had worked for wealthy employers before.
What made his household different was its precision. Everything ran
on schedules, and every task came with an unspoken warning,
(14:30):
do not ask questions. When police interviewed employees after the
two thousand and five search of three fifty eight L.
Brillaugh Way, they found that the staff's stories fit together
as neatly as the victim's accounts. Everyone described the same
atmosphere of order and secrecy. Juan Elisi, who had managed
the mansion through much of the nineteen nineties. Told investigators
(14:50):
that Epstein's arrival in town transformed the property into a
workplace where silence was expected. We had to behave professionally,
he said. In his deposition. You never looked mister Epstein
in the eye, and you never talked to the guest
unless spoken to. Alisi said that Glene Maxwell was the
real manager. She issued daily instructions, corrected mistakes, and handled
(15:13):
staff discipline. If I did something wrong, she would tell
me in front of everyone. Elisei testified she wanted control.
Under Maxwell's supervision, the staff created what police later called
a logistical grid, a system that kept the operation running
without interruption. Every appointment, every delivery, every visitor was recorded.
(15:35):
Cash was left in the kitchen drawer for payments. Notes
on message pads later recovered by police documented the daily
rhythm she is coming after school, has a friend today,
Please have two hundred dollars ready. Stuff like that. To
the staff, the instructions were not legal commands, but household routines.
They cleaned the rooms and restock supplies, assuming the money
(15:58):
was part of a private arrangement that did not concern them.
Their obedience was reinforced by fear of losing employment, and
by the culture of Palm Beach service work, where discretion
was the most valued skill. Many lived across the bridge
in West Palm Beach and depended on their jobs. Questioning
an employer known for wealth and connections was unthinkable, But
(16:19):
even then, some employees did notice that the visitors seemed young.
A driver later told detectives that most of the girls
looked like they were still in high school. A housekeeper
described a constant flow of young women, maybe sixteen or seventeen.
None filed police reports at the time. When asked why,
house manager Juana Lissi, replied simply, I didn't want to
(16:41):
lose my job. Detective Joe Riccerrey, who led many of
the interviews, later said that the employee's consistency confirmed how
well the system had been built. He later told the
pomp Beach Post. Every witness described the same pattern. It
was all documented, organized and controlled. There were rules for everything,
even how to hand over the cash. When the case
(17:03):
finally reached court, some employees expressed regret for their silence.
I wish I had said something, one former assistant told
The Guardian in twenty nineteen, but at the time I
told myself, it wasn't my business. You just don't question
people like that. In Palm Beach, the case that would
(17:42):
unravel Jeffrey Epstein's system began not listing operation or a
journalist investigation, but with a mother who refused to dismiss
her daughter's confusion as a misunderstanding. In March two thousand
and five, she walked in the pomp Beach Police department
with a story that at first seemed implausible even to
experienced officers. Her fourteen year old daughter had returned from
(18:05):
a friend's house with several hundred dollars in cash and
an explanation that did not make sense. The girl said
she had given a massage to a man in a
mansion on El Brillaway. Chief Michael Ryder assigned the complaint
to Detective Joe Riccarrey, a veteran investigator known for his
patients and attention to detail. Ricarry began with a single interview.
(18:25):
The girl, who was nervous and embarrassed, described a sequence
that matched the pattern detectives would later hear again and
again that she had been invited by an older friend,
told she could make quick money giving massages, and was
driven to a large house where she met an older
man who introduced himself as Jeffrey. Inside the house, she said,
a woman with a British accent had greeted them and
(18:47):
led them upstairs. What happened next, she said, was not
what she had been told to expect. Ricarry listened to
the girl's account, took notes, and told the girl that
she had done the right thing by speaking to him.
He later said that her her testimony was calm and detailed.
The story was credible, but the suspect's name, Jeffrey Epstein,
meant little to local officers. They learned quickly that he
(19:10):
was not a typical resident. He was a multi millionaire,
maybe even a billionaire, with homes in multiple states and
connections that stretched into national politics. So for that reason,
the detective began quietly interviewing the friend that had recruited
this girl. She admitted that she too had given massages
at Jeffrey Epstein's house, and that she had brought others,
(19:32):
receiving money for each referral. She named more girls, some
as young as thirteen years old, each seemingly led to another.
The pattern formed within weeks, linked by cash payments and
repeated visits as well as the presence of Galeide Maxwell
or other staff who coordinated schedules. Detective Rickerry understood the
(19:54):
sensitivity of what he was uncovering. Jeffrey Epstein's wealth and
status meant that any mistake could collapsed the case before
it truly began. He built trust with each young victim,
conducting interviews with care and documenting every statement. We had
to prove not just that something happened, he later told
the pompeag Post, but that it was part of a system.
(20:15):
This wasn't one incident, it was an operation. By late spring,
the list of potential victims had grown to more than
a dozen. Some were too frightened to speak, Others described
their experiences in blunt, factual terms. The repetition of detail,
how they were recruited, the layout of the house, the
envelopes of cash left little room for coincidence. Rockerry reported
(20:38):
his findings to chief Writer, who authorized a full investigation.
As the evidence expanded, so did the resistance. Jeffrey Epstein's
lawyers began contacting the police department, questioning the investigation's scope
and warning of potential defamation. The detectives pressed forward anyway,
conducting surveillance on the mansion and collecting an additional witness statements.
(21:01):
One afternoon, as Detective Rickarrey left the police station, a
private investigator hired by Jeffrey Epstein followed him home. Chief
Writer later confirmed that the department was being watched. They
wanted us to know they were watching. He said. It
was a message that intimidation did not stop the investigation.
Detective Rockerrey's team built its case piece by piece with
(21:24):
phone records, photographs, staff testimony. In June two thousand and five,
they drafted an affidavit seeking a warrant to search three
fifty eight L Brillaway. The document cited multiple consistent statements
describing sexual acts involving miners and payments made immediately afterward.
Judge CHRISTA. Marx signed the warrant. On October twentieth, two
(21:47):
thousand and five, Palm Beach Police executed their search. The
evidence they collected confirmed what the first mother had reported
months earlier. There were message pads filled with notes in
staff handwriting, hundreds of photographs of young women, even stacks
of cash near the exits her Detective Ricarrey the case
remained personal that mom, he told the Miami herald years later,
(22:10):
speaking about the original mom that gave him the report.
She was the reason it all started. If she hadn't
walked in, this might still be going on. Her decision
to speak forced an institution that had long deferred to
wealth to confront it directly. The first complaint became a
map for the detectives who followed. It also revealed how
(22:31):
vulnerable the system was to something as ordinary as a
parent simply paying attention. What Epstein and Maxwell had built
over a decade, a machine of secrecy and control, began
to fail the moment someone outside it asked a simple question,
where did this money come from? When the Palm Beach
Police Department formally opened its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in
(22:52):
the summer of two thousand and five, Chief Michael Ryder
and Detective Joe Riccarrey understood that the task ahead would
test the limits of a small town force confronting a
man with global connections. Within months, their file had grown
from a single complaint to a complex record of dozens
of overlapping accounts. As the list of potential victims grew,
Detective Rocarrie asked the department to allocate more personnel officers
(23:16):
conducted surveillance on the mansion and recorded the stream of visitors.
The activity was constant. A car would arrive, a young
girl would enter through a side door, and within an
hour she would leave carrying an envelope. It was a routine.
Rucerrie later said, we could have set our watches to it.
Chief Writers supported the investigation despite growing external pressure. Epstein's
(23:39):
attorneys had already begun contacting city officials, questioning the legality
of surveillance and hinting at political consequences if the inquiry continued.
Writer refused to yield. He later told the Miami Herald,
we treat everyone the same, whether they live on the
island or across the bridge. As the interviews accumulated, the
(24:00):
department's evidence room filled with binders of transcripts, photographs, and
call sheets, Rackerry compiled a chronology linking victims and their recruiters.
It was the first complete map of Epstein's Palm Beach operation.
Every line of connections strengthened the conclusion that what they
were investigating was not an isolated pattern of misconduct, but
(24:20):
an organized system. Writer prepared to present the findings to
the State Attorney's office, expecting a pretty straightforward prosecution. We
had victims willing to testify, physical evidence, corroborating witnesses, and
a clear pattern, he said in a twenty eighteen interview.
We thought that was enough. The state's response surprised him.
(24:42):
Prosecutors asked for additional corroboration and expressed concern about the
reliability of teenage witnesses. Epstein's attorneys, among them Alan Dershowitz
and Roy Black, were already engaging privately with state officials.
They questioned the credibility of the victims and argued that
Jeffrey that Epstein was the target of a misunderstanding magnified
(25:03):
by envy of wealth. Despite these headwins, Chief Writer pushed forward.
The department drafted probable cause affidavits recommending multiple felony counts,
including unlawful sexual activity with miners and lewd and lavicious acts.
The documentation filled several volumes. Each victim was identified by
(25:23):
a pseudonym to protect her identity. By early two thousand
and six, the local police had done everything expected of them.
They had taken testimony from five victims willing to appear
in court, and had corroborated their statements through physical evidence
and staff accounts. Chief Writer later recalled the optimism of
that moment. We thought the hardest part was over. We
(25:44):
thought now the system would take over and do its job.
The system, however, was about to shift in ways that
none of them anticipated. When the case file moved from
the police department to the pomp Beach County State Attorney's Office,
the momentum changed. Prosecutors met repeating with Epstein's legal team
behind closed doors. Request for additional witness interviews delayed the
(26:05):
filing of charges. The detectives, who had spent a year
assembling the evidence, began to sense that their work was
being quietly neutralized. In February two thousand and six, when
Chief Writer delivered his final summary report to the State
Attorney's office, it was over four hundred pages long included
a note at the end that read, simply, this is
an ongoing criminal enterprise operating in our jurisdiction. His expectation
(26:30):
was that Jeffrey Epstein would be charged with multiple felonies. Instead,
within weeks, rumors circulated that the state was considering misdemeanor
counts or even a deferred prosecution agreement. Chief Writer and
detective Rickerrey had confronted the machinery of power for the
first time and found that it was not on their side.
The next phase of the case would show how influence
(26:52):
and reputation could dismantle years of careful police work. What
had begun as a clear pattern of exploitation was about
to become a king study and how justice can be
negotiated away. When the Palm Beach Police submitted their case
file to the State Attorney's office in early two thousand
and six, they believed the evidence was sufficient for felony charges.
(27:13):
Within weeks, they realized that they had stepped into a
political and legal fight far beyond their jurisdiction. Jeffrey Epstein
responded to the investigation the way he responded to every threat,
by surrounding himself with power. His defense team assembled quickly.
It included Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black Ken Starr, Gerald Lefcourt,
(27:34):
and Jay Lefkowitz, lawyers known for high profile victories and
for their access to judges, prosecutors, and politicians. From the start,
they adopted a strategy that blended legal argument with intimidation.
They questioned the credibility of victims, suggested that local police
had mishandled evidence and accused the department of bias. Behind
(27:56):
closed doors, they met repeatedly with prosecutors pressing for lenancy
while reminding them of their client's resources. Detective Joe Rickerry
later described the shift in atmosphere. It stopped feeling like
an investigation and started feeling like a negotiation, he told
the Miami Herald. Every time we moved forward, another lawyer appeared.
(28:16):
Chief Michael Rider agreed. He said that state prosecutors who
had initially promised cooperation began requesting delays and additional evidence
instead of filing charges. It was clear the defense was
being heard in places we weren't invited to. Writer recalled.
Alan Dershowitz, who had taught law at Harvard for decades,
(28:36):
became the most visible member of the team. He appeared
on television defending Epstein's character, calling him a brilliant man
who did not deserve to be vilified before trial. In
later interviews, Dershowitz said he believed that the police had
overreached and that the accusations were exaggerated. His public comments
helped shift the narrative from potential predator to wealthy target.
(28:59):
Inside floor, as legal circles. The defense team's influence was unmistakable.
Epstein's lawyers arranged private meetings with Barry Kreischer, the Palm
Beach County State Attorney. They challenged the police department's jurisdiction
and threatened civil suits against anyone who leaked information to
the press. They also commissioned their own private investigators to
(29:19):
follow officers, victims, and journalists. Detective Rickerry confirmed that he
and his colleagues were watched. You'd see the same cars
outside the station, the same faces at the diner. He said.
They wanted us to know they could reach us. Despite
this pressure, the detectives continued to push for full prosecution.
They worked with the FBI to expand their investigation, recognizing
(29:42):
that many of Epstein's activities likely crossed state lines. The
federal inquiry, code named Operation Leap Year, began in mid
two thousand and six. Even so, local progress slowed. Months
passed without formal charges. When the state Attorney's office finned
only filed an information sheet, it listed only one count
(30:03):
of solicitation of prostitution and one count of procurement of
miners for prostitution, both misdemeanors. Chief writer was outraged. In
a memo to Kreischer dated May two thousand and six,
he wrote, I strongly object to the reduced charges. The
evidence clearly supports multiple felony counts. He also took the
(30:24):
rare step of referring the case to federal prosecutors bypassing
the state entirely. It was the only option left, he
said later, if the local system wouldn't act, maybe Washington would.
The referral triggered a new phase, but it also exposed
how influence could travel across institutions. Epstein's lawyers began negotiating
(30:44):
directly with the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District
of Florida, led by Alexander Acosta. They argued that their
client was being unfairly targeted and that the accusations lacked corroboration.
They proposed a plea deal that would avoid federal charges
in its change for Epstein's cooperation on unrelated cases. The
idea of cooperation introduced another layer of rumor, one that
(31:08):
would later fuel speculation about Epstein's supposed ties to intelligence,
but that's something we'll touch on in another episode. While
negotiations continued, Jeffrey Epstein maintained his routine. He jogged along
Palm Beach's waterfront, he attended dinners. He even told friends
that the case was just a big misunderstanding. His attorneys
(31:28):
told reporters that he was confident the matter would be resolved.
In that confidence lay the real imbalance of power. The
victims had no legal representation and no knowledge of the
discussions that would decide the outcome of the case. Their statements,
collected at great emotional cost, were being weighed against the
convenience of avoiding conflict with an influential defendant. In December
(31:50):
two thousand and six, the FBI formally opened its case file,
listing possible charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy. Internally, federal
agent believed they had a solid case, with one former
agent telling the Miami Herald the evidence was strong enough
for one hundred years in prison. We thought we were
about to make history. Yet the federal prosecution never came.
(32:13):
Over the next year, negotiations between Epstein's lawyers and Accosta's
office produced one of the most controversial plea deals in
American legal history. Police chief Writer watched the process unfold
with disbelief. It was like watching a slow motion reversal.
He said later, we had proof, we had victims, and
somehow the focus became on protecting the defendant's rights instead
(32:35):
of the victims' rights. His frustration echoed what the survivors
would express in later years that the system seemed designed
not to serve justice, but to manage it. The counter
offensive worked because it operated on two fronts. In public,
Epstein's lawyers portrayed him as a generous philanthropist misunderstood by
ambitious detectives. In private, they used his wealth and his
(32:59):
influence to dismantle the case piece by piece. By the
time the final agreement was drafted, Epstein had secured something extraordinary,
immunity from federal prosecution, not only for himself but also
for unnamed potential co conspirators. The machine that Jeffrey Epstein
and Gallaine Maxwell had built in their homes was now
(33:19):
mirrored in the legal system itself. Secrecy and coordination had
once again protected them, and for the investigators who had
spent a year gathering evidence, the message was unmistakable. With
enough money, you could rewrite the rules of America itself.
(33:47):
By late two thousand and six, Chief Michael Rider and
Detective Joe Roccerrey understood that local prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein
was slipping out of their hands. The Palm Beach County
State Attorney's office had stalled, and Estein's lawyers had shifted
the fight to a new arena. So Chief Writer made
a decision that few local chiefs ever make. He wrote
(34:07):
a formal letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation asking
for help. In it, he said the crimes described by
the victims appeared across state lines and therefore warranted federal jurisdiction.
So the FBI opened an inquiry in July two thousand
and six under the name Operation leap Ear. Federal agents
began interviewing witnesses, collecting flight manifest and reviewing financial records
(34:30):
that showed payments to recruiters and assistants. What they uncovered
confirmed the police findings and extended them. The pattern of
behavior stretched from not only pomp Beach, Florida, to New
York and New Mexico. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District
of Florida began drafting possible charges that included sex trafficking
and conspiracy. For a moment, it seemed that the momentum
(34:52):
had returned. We thought the Feds would do what the
state wouldn't. Rickerry later told the pomp Beach Post they
had the resources, the power, in the distance from local politics.
Survivors felt the same. Several told the reporters that they
believed the federal case would bring accountability that the local
system had denied them. Instead, negotiations began. Epstein's defense team
(35:14):
met privately with federal prosecutors. The meetings were not disclosed
to the victims or to the Pompeach Police writer and
Rickerry heard only fragments through legal channels and rumors in
the press. We were out of the loop, writers said later.
All we could do was wait. In June two thousand
and eight, news broke that Jeffrey Epstein had reached a
(35:36):
plea agreement. He would plead guilty in state court to
two counts of solicitation, serving thirteen months in the county
jail before registering as a sex offender, and paying restitution
to selected victims. In return, federal prosecutors agreed not to
pursue further charges. The document that sealed the arrangement was
called a non prosecution agreement. The details of the end
(36:00):
PA were not immediately public, but its impact was clear.
Epstein's time in custody would be minimal, his daily privileges extraordinary.
It was permitted to leave the jail six days a
week for quote unquote work release, spending up to twelve
hours a day at his office in downtown West Palm Beach.
He continued to host visitors and manage his finances while
(36:22):
being barely incarcerated. For the survivors, the deal was devastating.
None had been informed of its terms before it was signed,
a violation of the Federal Crime Victim's Rights Act. Many
first learned of it through newspaper articles. We didn't even
know there was a deal until it was over, said
Courtney Wilde, who was sixteen when she first met Epstein.
(36:44):
They told us we would have our day in court,
and then suddenly there was no court left. Chief Writer
called a press conference to express his dismay. He told
reporters the outcome was inconsistent with the evidence we collected.
It sends a message that money can buy a different
and of justice. His remarks were unusual for a sitting
police chief, but he wanted the record to reflect that
(37:06):
his department had not consented to the result. Behind closed doors.
The detectives who had built the case felt demoralized. Rockeri
would later say, I had to look those girls in
the eye and tell them we did everything we could.
It didn't feel like enough. The files that had taken
more than a year to compile now sat in federal archives.
(37:28):
The investigation effectively sealed Jeffrey Epstein's release a year later
completed the cycle. He returned to as many homes and
resumed his routines, his reputation bruised but intact. For the
young women who had come forward, there was no closure,
only the knowledge that the system had bent around the
man who had controlled them. The same power that had
(37:49):
allowed him to build his machine had now reproduced itself
in the halls of justice. The federal agreement would remain
secret for another decade, its existence revealed only after journalists
and lawyers fought to unseal it. By then, most of
these survivors had built lives around silence. We thought it
was over, said one woman interviewed by the Miami Herald
(38:10):
in twenty eighteen. We thought that was what justice looked
like for people like us. When Jeffrey Epstein's plea deal
(38:36):
went into effect in two thousand and eight, Palm Beach
was forced to confront the uncomfortable truth that its own
institutions had failed. The people who lived there had long
prided themselves on civility and order, on the notion that
the rule of law protected everyone equally. The Epstein case
single handedly shattered that illusion. It revealed a system that
(38:56):
responded differently to power, one in which a man with
enough money and the right lawyers could bend justice into
something unrecognizable. Chief Michael Rider, who had initiated the original investigation,
announced his retirement soon after the plea was finalized. He
had spent thirty years in law enforcement and had never
seen a case like this. Speaking later to the Miami Herald,
(39:19):
he stated, I believed in the process. I thought that
if we did our jobs the right way, the outcome
would take care of itself. I learned that isn't always true.
His department had gathered evidence, protected witnesses, and presented a
clear record, none of it had been enough. Detective Joe
Roccerrey felt the same way. He had interviewed dozens of victims,
(39:41):
each one telling a story that matched the next. When
the case collapsed into a plea, deal negotiated behind closed doors.
He realized how little power local investigators had once politics
and money entered the equation. We built it, he said
about the case in two thousand and nine, and they
tore it apart. In the neighborhoods across the bridge. The
(40:02):
consequences were more personal. The girls and young women who
had come forward returned to their schools and jobs carrying
the knowledge that their testimony had been traded away. Some
refused further interviews, others withdrew from contact altogether. One survivor
later told the Palm Beach Post it felt like being
(40:22):
used twice, first by him speaking of Epstein, then by
the system. The local press covered Geoffrey Epstein's sentencing as
a minor story. He served thirteen months in the County jail,
a facility designed for short term offenders. Reporters who attempt
to follow up on his daily work release privileges found
him leaving the jail in the morning and returning late
(40:44):
at night. His office, listed as a charitable foundation, continued
to receive visitors. The arrangement was technically legal under the
terms of the plea, but defied the spirit of incarceration
in the court house, the language of law, Laus stanitized
what had actually happened. Jeffrey Epstein was referred to as
a first time offender. His crimes were called solicitation. The
(41:09):
word miner appeared in the filings, but not in the
press releases. The vocabulary of power turned exploitation into something administrative.
The families who had trusted the system watched from a
distance as the man they had accused resumed his life
almost completely unchanged. Over time, the case became a local
parable about how influence operates in plain sight. Residents of
(41:32):
Palm Beach rarely spoke about it publicly, but in private conversations,
the name Epstein became shorthand for corruption that money could buy.
Police officers who had worked the investigation used it as
an example for new recruits, a cautionary tale about how
a case could be right in fact and wrong in outcome.
Years later, when journalist Julie kpe Brown reopened the story,
(41:54):
she began with the same question rire Kerry had asked
himself in two thousand and five, How had this gone
unknown for so long? Her reporting revealed what the victims
already knew. That the failure was not hidden at all.
It was recorded in letters, in filings, meeting notes, visible
to anyone who chose to read them. The officers who
(42:15):
had built the original case took no satisfaction in the
renewed attention a decade later. It's not vindication, chief writer
told the Miami Herald. Nothing fixes what happened to those girls.
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