Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigating whether deputies violated work release rules while monitoring Jeffrey Epstein

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last updated 20 July 2019

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Friday opened an internal investigation into whether it properly handled the case of Jeffrey Epstein.

The multimillionaire spent 13 months in jail beginning in 2008 after pleading guilty to solicitation of a minor, following a plea deal with Florida prosecutors that spared him from a much harsher sentence.

The investigation will specifically look at the office's decision to allow Epstein to be free 12 hours a day, 6 days a week on work release and determine whether deputies violated any rules or regulations related to the matter, The Miami Herald reports. While on work release Epstein was reportedly monitored by deputies, whom he paid $128,136 to watch him, the entire time he was out. On some occasions, records show, Epstein's personal limousine would drop him off at his office as early as 7:15 a.m. and returned him to jail as late as 10:40 p.m.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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