Epstein paid deputy in cash and Disney tickets for special jail treatment: report
Jeffrey Epstein paid a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy cash and Disney tickets for favorable jail treatment, his former assistant told Congress, per a new report.
Sarah Kellen, a longtime personal assistant to the convicted sex offender, testified before the House Oversight Committee on May 21, per a transcript reviewed by the Miami Herald.
Kellen also told the committee Epstein abused her from behind bars — using a jail computer to Skype her and force her to undress on camera, Raw Story reported.
It marks the first time a specific deputy has been named in connection with alleged payments at the Palm Beach County Stockade, where Epstein was held from 2008 to 2009.
"I know that he arranged to have cash and, like, Disneyland tickets, taken to one of the officers in the jail and I'm not sure what he received with that," Kellen testified. She identified the deputy as Michael Fox.
She learned of the arrangement because Epstein's paralegal, Story Cowles, complained about having to personally drive to deliver the cash and tickets.
Fox retired from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in 2020, and a spokeswoman said the prior investigation never surfaced the allegation.
"The Epstein investigation did not reveal these allegations, and they were never investigated in connection with that case," spokeswoman Therese Barbera said.
Epstein served his sentence in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade.
Three and a half months in, he was granted work release — leaving jail 12 hours a day, six days a week.
His company paid roughly $130,000 in overtime to deputies who were told to call him their "client."
"I was afraid that that would happen. [Epstein] was so smooth. He was trying to hook me in, and that wasn't going to happen," said Michael Gauger, who supervised the jail during Epstein's tenure.
"If that had come out, he would have been put on isolation and lost his privileges," he further added.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's 2021 investigation found no wrongdoing by sheriff's office members — but that probe predates Kellen's allegation about Fox. The sheriff's office said it has no plans to reopen.