Florida's governor is asking state law enforcement officials to take over a criminal investigation of irregularities in the handling of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

At Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's request, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review a work release program that allowed Epstein to visit his office while staying at the county jail a decade ago. DeSantis also requested an inquiry into other irregularities.

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Last month, Bradshaw opened criminal and internal affairs investigations into Epstein's 13-month stay at the Palm Beach County stockade. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution-related charges involving underage girls. Epstein was allowed to spend most days at his West Palm Beach office.

The 66-year-old Epstein faces new federal sex trafficking charges in New York. </s> Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered a probe into the handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-abuse case from more than a decade ago, reports. DeSantis wants the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to examine the 2008 work-release agreement Epstein had with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and his secret sweetheart plea deal with prosecutors, which was deemed a slap on the wrist for the accused sex trafficker. “Floridians expect and deserve a full and fair investigation,” DeSantis said in a statement. “Following my review of Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s letter, I am requesting the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to take over his criminal investigation pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein matter.” DeSantis said he has reassigned the case to the state attorney for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit. Epstein pleaded not guilty to federal sex-trafficking charges last month and is currently being held without bail at a Manhattan correctional facility. </s> Florida’s governor is asking state law enforcement officials to take over a criminalhttps://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime investigation of irregularities in the handling of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

At Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s request, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review a work release program that allowed Epstein to visit his office while staying at the county jail a decade ago. DeSantis also requested an inquiry into other irregularities.

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Last month, Bradshaw opened criminal and internal affairs investigations into Epstein’s 13-month stay at the Palm Beach County stockade. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution-related charges involving underage girls. Epstein was allowed to spend most days at his West Palm Beach office.

The 66-year-old Epstein faces new federal sex trafficking charges in New York. </s> Pointing to a request from the Palm Beach County sheriff, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to oversee an investigation into the handling of high-profile sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago.

The probe is expected to look at privileges provided to Epstein while he was in the custody of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. DeSantis directed the FDLE to initiate a preliminary inquiry that also considers “irregularities” regarding a 2008 plea agreement with Epstein, a politically connected financer now facing sex-trafficking charges involving minors in Florida and New York.

Read Perversion of Justice, the Miami Herald's investigation that landed Jeffrey Epstein back in jail.

In addition, DeSantis assigned State Attorney Bruce Colton of the 19th Judicial Circuit to handle any proceedings that arise from the investigation. The 19th Judicial Circuit covers Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties.

“Floridians expect and deserve a full and fair investigation,” DeSantis said in a prepared statement.

State Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, has publicly pushed the past two weeks for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office handling of Epstein while he was on work release.

DeSantis on Tuesday, however, cited a request from Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who wrote in a letter to the governor that the public interest would be better served by a state investigation “from court sentencing to incarceration.”

“Given the recent questions that have been raised around the Jeffrey Epstein case, I am formally requesting that FDLE assume the existing criminal investigation and I pledge the cooperation and participation of my agency,” Bradshaw wrote.

The investigation grew out of an internal affairs inquiry Bradshaw announced on July 19, after an allegation was made that Epstein was able to engage in sex while on work release.

Epstein served 13 months of an 18-month sentence after he pleaded guilty in 2008 on two state prostitution charges in Florida, including procuring a minor for sex. The plea required him to register as a sex offender.

While in custody, Epstein was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County stockade. After more than three months in custody, Epstein was provided work release for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

The sheriff’s office will continue an internal affairs investigation, Bradshaw wrote in the letter to DeSantis.

Epstein’s latest arrest led to the resignation last month of Alex Acosta as U.S. labor secretary amid questions over his role as a former federal prosecutor in Florida and the plea deal.

“Epstein enjoyed an unprecedented and deeply troubling level of leniency and luxury while incarcerated by PBSO,” Book said in a release. “I am disgusted by the flagrant corruption documented within the logs of deputies assigned to supervise Epstein while on work release and deeply disturbed by allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated under PBSO watch. FDLE’s investigation is the first step toward a clear understanding of what happened and who is responsible.” </s> Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday ordered investigations into the way Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s deputies and the State Attorney’s Office handled accused serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago.

In an executive order prompted by a request from Bradshaw, DeSantis ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into why the politically connected financier was allowed to leave the Palm Beach County Stockade 12 hours a day, six days a week.

PHOTOS: The players in the Jeffrey Epstein saga

The liberal work release was approved by sheriff’s officials after Epstein in 2008 pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges, making him a convicted sex offender. According to the sheriff’s policy, sex offenders aren’t eligible for work release.

DeSantis also asked the state law enforcement agency to "assume the criminal investigation regarding Jeffrey Epstein."

The governor also ordered 19th Circuit State Attorney Bruce Colton, who is based in Fort Pierce, to analyze why then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer refused to prosecute Epstein on serious sex crime charges as recommended by Palm Beach police.

Instead of pursuing Epstein on allegations that he lured dozens of teenage girls to his Palm Beach mansion for sexually charged massages, Krischer allowed Epstein to plead guilty to the two prostitution charges. Epstein served 13 months of an 18-month jail sentence in a largely vacant wing of the stockade.

In addition to leaving the jail to go to work, he was allowed to spend time at his palatial home near the Intracoastal Waterway.

Epstein agreed to plead guilty to the two state prostitution charges after federal prosecutors in South Florida agreed to shelve a 53-page indictment they had prepared against him. Then South Florida U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta recently stepped down as U.S. labor secretary when questions were raised about his involvement in what many have described as a sweetheart deal.

"Floridians expect and deserve a full and fair investigation," DeSantis said in a statement.

After questions were raised last month about Epstein’s liberal work release and allegations surfaced that he had sex while he was supposedly working at his office on Australian Avenue, Bradshaw asked DeSantis to have FDLE examine his agency.

"I believe the public interest would best be served by an FDLE-led investigation examining every aspect of the Jeffrey Epstein case, from court sentencing to incarceration," he wrote.

Epstein, 66, is jailed in New York City where he is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan claim he used underage girls in New York and Palm Beach County in a personal sex ring. He was arrested on July 6 in New Jersey aboard his private jet when it returned from Paris. </s> Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered Florida to take over a criminal probe into the terms of millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s slap-on-the-wrist plea deal and work-release sentence in 2007.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will conduct a “preliminary inquiry into misconduct and allegations that go beyond the reported concerns with Jeffrey Epstein’s work release,” DeSantis wrote in a letter to the department on Tuesday, also tasking them with taking over the criminal probe into that work release.

Explaining that Palm Beach County law enforcement had handled the original investigation and fresh eyes were needed, DeSantis also assigned State Attorney Bruce Colton, whose Nineteenth Circuit does not include Epstein’s Palm Beach home, to the case.

The inquiry will attempt to answer questions about how Epstein was able to get away with sexually abusing what the FBI at the time claimed were at least 36 teenage girls and walk away with nothing more than a 13-month sentence that allowed him to leave the jail during the day. He was even allowed to fly his private plane to New York, Boston, and his private island without having to tell his probation officers what he was doing or who he was meeting, according to the Palm Beach Post.

It was Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw who begged DeSantis to hand the case to the state, insisting “the public interest would best be served by an FDLE-led investigation examining every aspect of the Epstein case, from court sentencing to incarceration.” Bradshaw pledged the “cooperation and participation” of Palm Beach law enforcement in the state investigation.

Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting underage prostitutes in 2007 and registered as a sex offender in exchange for immunity from federal charges for himself and his accomplices, in a non-prosecution deal that has been harshly criticized in light of the reopening of the investigation.

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking and locked up without bail in New York last month, after a judge ruled the original plea deal had violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by failing to inform his accusers of the deal’s terms.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! </s> Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced his decision to ask state police to take over a criminal investigation into Palm Beach officials’ handling of the extraordinarily lax plea deal given to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2008.

Epstein was arrested in early July on sex trafficking charges in New York, more than a decade after Florida went easy on him for similar offenses. Prosecutors in New York say Epstein has abused dozens of girls at properties he owns in Manhattan, Palm Beach, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw opened an internal investigation into the department’s handling of the Epstein case last month, but he had faced mounting pressure to allow an outside agency to conduct it.

Bradshaw caved to his critics earlier Tuesday, sending a letter to the governor requesting that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement take over the criminal probe.

“Be rest assured as with any issue or concern that has crossed my desk over the past 15 years, I will strive for the truth, wherever that leads, to ensure justice is served and the public trust in our law enforcement agency is maintained,” Bradshaw told the governor.

Palm Beach officials began investigating Epstein in 2006 until the case was referred to the FBI, which filed a 53-page indictment against him. Then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, however, signed off on the cushy plea deal, allowing Epstein to plead guilty to lesser charges in a state court in Palm Beach. Acosta was forced to resign last month as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Labor amid intense public criticism of his actions.

The multimillionaire financier was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail and allowed to leave for work up to 12 hours per day, six days per week; his personal driver would ferry him to and from a West Palm Beach office. DeSantis has requested that state police open a “preliminary inquiry” into the work release Epstein was given along with other “irregularities” surrounding the case.

As part of the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty to two counts related to solicitation of a minor for sex. A Miami Herald exposé published in November raised new questions about the case, including why the deal was kept secret from Epstein’s accusers until after it was signed. </s> Jeffrey Epstein is in jail in New York facing a fresh set of sex trafficking charges AP

Florida’s governor has ordered state police to investigate “irregularities” in the prosecution and punishment of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Ron DeSantis signed an executive order directing the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to take charge of the inquiry, which will focus on the leniency granted to Epstein in 2008 as he faced claims of child sex trafficking.

Prosecutors who handled the case gave Epstein immunity from federal charges in a controversial plea agreement. He served 13 months in prison, during which he was housed in a private wing and allowed to come and go in a chauffeur-driven car for up to 12 hours a day.

Alexander Acosta, the federal prosecutor in Miami who oversaw the case, quit as US labour secretary last month after… </s> MIAMI _ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered a state criminal probe into the actions of the Palm Beach sheriff and the former Palm Beach state attorney's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein underage sex trafficking case.

DeSantis' move comes as Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has come under increasing scrutiny for his decision in 2008 to give Epstein, a politically connected multimillionaire, unusually lenient work release privileges even though he was a convicted sex offender who had been accused of molesting dozens of underage girls.

Epstein, 66, is now under indictment in New York, charged with sex trafficking minors _ both in Palm Beach and in Manhattan, where Epstein owns sprawling homes. Epstein was investigated in Palm Beach, starting in 2006, but then-State Attorney Barry Krischer wanted to charge him with a misdemeanor.

The case was transferred to the FBI, which discovered even more victims, and federal investigators gathered enough corroborating evidence to fill a 53-page federal indictment. The indictment, however, was inexplicably shelved under then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, who signed off on an agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser charges in state court in Palm Beach.

As part of the deal, Epstein was jailed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County stockade. But within a few months, he was allowed to have his own driver pick him up and take him to an office he had set up in West Palm Beach, where he spent up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

In November, the Miami Herald published a multipart series of articles, Perversion of Justice, that raised new questions about case. Federal prosecutors credited the investigation when they announced Epstein's arrest early last month. Days later, Acosta, who had become President Donald Trump's secretary of labor, resigned his post amid a rising chorus of criticism.

Bradshaw has been under fire for his approval of the work release program despite objections from the lead federal prosecutor who handled the case, Maria Villafana, who worked on Acosta's staff. Bradshaw ordered an internal affairs investigation into the work release last month, then announced he would conduct his own criminal probe.

But State Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat from Plantation, petitioned the Republican governor to ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to undertake the investigation, pointing out that Bradshaw _ as head of the agency _ had an inherent conflict of interest. Book is herself a sexual assault survivor and an advocate for child abuse victims,

DeSantis, in announcing the investigation Tuesday, said he was doing so at the behest of Bradshaw, who in a letter to the governor Tuesday said he would cooperate with the state probe.

"I believe the public interest would be best served by an FDLE-led investigation examining every aspect of the Epstein case, from court sentencing to incarceration," Bradshaw wrote.

PHOTOS (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): DeSantis, Epstein, Bradshaw
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis orders law enforcement to handle a criminal probe of Jeffrey Epstein's jail release in the late 2000s.