Palm Beach Police Open Investigation After Victim's Family Calls

In March 2005, a woman called the Palm Beach Police Department to report concerns about a man her 14-year-old stepdaughter had visited. The girl had been paid to give massages at a large estate on El Brillo Way in Palm Beach.

Palm Beach Police Detective Joseph Recarey was assigned to investigate. What began as a single complaint quickly expanded as Recarey identified additional victims — all young girls, many from the Palm Beach area — who had been paid to visit Epstein’s property. Most were recruited via peer referral networks; existing victims were paid bonuses to bring in new girls.

The investigation grew to encompass dozens of identified victims and witnesses. Recarey later testified that his investigation — and the evidence it produced — supported a far more serious prosecution than the one that ultimately occurred.

By 2006, the Palm Beach investigation had been referred to the FBI for a federal probe. The scope of evidence — including victim accounts, phone records, calendars, and physical evidence seized from Epstein’s estate — pointed toward a federal sex trafficking operation.

The Palm Beach investigation is historically significant as the origin point of the entire legal chain that eventually led to Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement, his 2019 arrest, and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 conviction. Detective Recarey became a key figure in subsequent legal proceedings and continued advocating for victims long after his retirement from the force.