Two teenage girls who testified in 2006 that they were victims of Jeffrey Epstein were accused of being prostitutes and told they could be charged with a crime, newly released grand jury documents revealed.
The girls testified on July 19, 2006, following an effort by the Palm Beach Police Department to charge Epstein with felonies relating to his sexual exploitation of underage girls. Then State’s Attorney Barry Krischer had resisted charging Epstein for months, according to ABC News, before finally convening the grand jury.
On this day of testimony, the two teenage girls were called, along with two police officers and an investigator with Krischer’s office. The entire proceeding took less than four hours, according to the newly released documents. The first witness called was Palm Beach Police Detective Joseph Recarey, who led the investigation into Epstein’s dealings with underage girls and had interviewed more than a dozen alleged victims. Recarey explained that police received a report from the stepmother of a 14-year-old girl, whom the mother said had received $300 to massage an older man on Palm Beach Island.
That girl, who was 16 at the time of her testimony, was then called. She said that an older friend had recruited her to go to Epstein’s mansion the year earlier, just before her 15th birthday, and was asked to strip down to her underwear before Epstein entered the room. She testified that she then massaged Epstein and agreed to allow him to use a vibrator on her for an extra $100 in addition to the $200 she was promised for the massage.
On the stand, she admitted to lying about her age and telling Epstein she was 18, which she said she was told to do by his assistant. Her parents found out about the encounter after she got into a fight at school when another girl called her a prostitute. A school official later found $300 in her purse.
During the girl’s testimony, the prosecution asked her about using drugs and alcohol, getting body piercings, lying on MySpace about her age, and claiming to make $250,000.
“Yeah, it’s a joke,” she testified. “Like, all my friends do that, cause it’s kind of funny and random and stupid.”
A juror also asked the girl if she had “any idea deep down inside of you that…what you’re doing is wrong?” The girl responded by saying, “Yeah, I did.” The juror then suggested the girl was “well aware that what you’re doing to your own reputation,” to which the girl responded, “Yes, I do.”
The juror then asked if the girl was “aware that you committed a crime?”
“Now I am. I didn’t know it was a crime when I was doing it,” the girl replied. “Now, I guess it’s prostitution or something like that.”
The only other alleged victim to testify said that she had gone to Epstein’s home about 10 times, starting when she was 16, and that he was “well aware of my age from the very beginning.”
Later in her testimony, a prosecutor asked her if she understood that “you in effect were committing prostitution yourself?”
The grand jury documents were released this week in response to a motion from the Palm Beach Post and other news outlets seeking to unseal the grand jury testimony, ABC News reported. The documents are meant to provide answers to how a grand jury could return an indictment on just one count of solicitation of a minor, yet the documents don’t reveal what charging options were presented to the grand jury.
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
Two teenage girls who testified in 2006 that they were victims of Jeffrey Epstein were accused of being prostitutes and told they could be charged with a crime, newly released grand jury documents revealed.
The girls testified on July 19, 2006, following an effort by the Palm Beach Police Department to charge Epstein with felonies relating to his sexual exploitation of underage girls. Then State’s Attorney Barry Krischer had resisted charging Epstein for months, according to ABC News, before finally convening the grand jury.
On this day of testimony, the two teenage girls were called, along with two police officers and an investigator with Krischer’s office. The entire proceeding took less than four hours, according to the newly released documents. The first witness called was Palm Beach Police Detective Joseph Recarey, who led the investigation into Epstein’s dealings with underage girls and had interviewed more than a dozen alleged victims. Recarey explained that police received a report from the stepmother of a 14-year-old girl, whom the mother said had received $300 to massage an older man on Palm Beach Island.
That girl, who was 16 at the time of her testimony, was then called. She said that an older friend had recruited her to go to Epstein’s mansion the year earlier, just before her 15th birthday, and was asked to strip down to her underwear before Epstein entered the room. She testified that she then massaged Epstein and agreed to allow him to use a vibrator on her for an extra $100 in addition to the $200 she was promised for the massage.
On the stand, she admitted to lying about her age and telling Epstein she was 18, which she said she was told to do by his assistant. Her parents found out about the encounter after she got into a fight at school when another girl called her a prostitute. A school official later found $300 in her purse.
During the girl’s testimony, the prosecution asked her about using drugs and alcohol, getting body piercings, lying on MySpace about her age, and claiming to make $250,000.
“Yeah, it’s a joke,” she testified. “Like, all my friends do that, cause it’s kind of funny and random and stupid.”
A juror also asked the girl if she had “any idea deep down inside of you that…what you’re doing is wrong?” The girl responded by saying, “Yeah, I did.” The juror then suggested the girl was “well aware that what you’re doing to your own reputation,” to which the girl responded, “Yes, I do.”
The juror then asked if the girl was “aware that you committed a crime?”
“Now I am. I didn’t know it was a crime when I was doing it,” the girl replied. “Now, I guess it’s prostitution or something like that.”
The only other alleged victim to testify said that she had gone to Epstein’s home about 10 times, starting when she was 16, and that he was “well aware of my age from the very beginning.”
Later in her testimony, a prosecutor asked her if she understood that “you in effect were committing prostitution yourself?”
The grand jury documents were released this week in response to a motion from the Palm Beach Post and other news outlets seeking to unseal the grand jury testimony, ABC News reported. The documents are meant to provide answers to how a grand jury could return an indictment on just one count of solicitation of a minor, yet the documents don’t reveal what charging options were presented to the grand jury.
“}]]
