MIAMI _ Florida Sen. Lauren Book has reached out to Capitol police after receiving an anonymous warning connected to her demand for a state inquiry into Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's handling of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's lenient work release program, the Miami Herald has learned.
Book, a vocal advocate for child sexual assault survivors, said she also received more than a dozen calls by Bradshaw's political supporters asking her to back off on her call for an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Bradshaw.
On Monday, Book, a Democrat, wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Rick DeSantis asking him to authorize a probe into how Epstein, accused of molesting dozens of underage girls and a registered sex offender, was permitted to leave the Palm Beach County Jail and spend much of his 2008-2009 incarceration in a lavish office in West Palm Beach.
Book, in an interview with the Herald, said she also asked the Capitol police, who handle security for state lawmakers, to look into claims made on a Russian website alleging that Bradshaw was behind an effort to access her phone and emails by using a claim of "imminent danger" to obtain her personal information.
"I've received countless phone calls saying 'Little girl you don't know what you're getting into,' and telling me that I should just stop," said Book, a child sexual abuse survivor who has worked to pass strict sex offender laws in Florida.
In a statement, the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office said it had no knowledge of anyone trying to threaten or pressure Book.
"Nor has PBSO made any effort to access her phone or emails as alleged on a salacious website run by a disgruntled former employee," the statement said.
The website is tied to a former Palm Beach sheriff's deputy who defected to Russia after starting the blog that claims it is dedicated to exposing corruption in the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office. The former deputy, John Dougan, fled to Moscow in 2016 following an FBI raid on his Palm Beach home that he claims was politically motivated.
The pressure against Book came on the same day that Epstein, 66, was found injured in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges brought earlier this month by the state attorney for the Southern District of New York. Epstein was found unconscious in his cell Wednesday evening and transported to a hospital amid speculation that he may have tried to commit suicide or been attacked by another inmate.
On Friday, Bradshaw announced he would conduct an internal investigation into reports that Epstein _ besides getting work release _ was allowed female visitors to his office, including at least one sexual encounter. The terms of Epstein's incarceration were detailed by the Herald as part of a series published last year about Epstein's case, Perversion of Justice.
Jack Scarola, who represents several of Epstein's victims, said it is ludicrous to think that Bradshaw, the most powerful politician in Palm Beach, is able to investigate his own department.
"The allegations are against the sheriff and there's no way a credible investigation can be conducted by the sheriff's office when the allegations extend to the very top of the organization," Scarola said.
Book, whose father, Ron Book, is perhaps the most powerful lobbyist in Florida, said that she intends to pressure the governor for a full and thorough investigation.
"The privileges that Epstein received in Palm Beach County were outside the scope of what anyone else would receive. We need an independent body to identify whether this was an issue of individual failures or systemic failures. And if it was an individual failure, we need to hold those individuals accountable," she said.
Bradshaw, who is running for his fifth term, wields tremendous power in Palm Beach, where the agency has also been the lead law enforcement detail assisting the Secret Service during President Trump's visits to Mar-a-Lago. The PBSO spent $5.6 million for Trump's 2017-2018 trips, the Palm Beach Post reported in April.
