A Palm Beach, Florida prosecutor involved in the botched criminal case of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein painted a 14-year-old victim as a prostitute in front of a grand jury empaneled in 2006, according to court transcripts released Monday.
Lanna Belohlavek also undermined her own witness through the use of social media posts, which were supplied by Epstein’s attorneys and appeared to depict the victim drinking, drugs, and simulated sex.
Belohlavek still works as an Assistant State Attorney in North Fort Myers, Florida.
According to the secret transcripts made public and obtained by RadarOnline.com, the unnamed victim of Epstein was questioned before the grand jury and asked whether she knew she’d “committed a crime?”
The girl — known as Victim No. 1 — told Belohlavek that she was 14 when she went to Epstein's horror house in Palm Beach.
It was at the Florida mansion where Epstein, who committed suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell, sexually abused her and other underage girls and young women, with the help of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein touched Victim No. 1 and paid her $300 for a massage, she told the court.
A juror asked the girl: “Do you have any idea, deep down inside of you, that you — what you’re doing is wrong?”
“Yeah. I did,” said the girl, who was aged 16 at the time when she testified.
Juror: “Have you set the goals to not do it anymore?”
A: “Yes.”
Juror: “And you’re well aware that — what you’re doing to your own reputation?”
A: “Yes. I do.”
That is when Belohlavek told the woman: “You’re aware that you committed a crime?”
A: “Now I am. I didn't know it was a crime when I was doing it.”
Spencer Kuvin, a civil trial attorney who represented the 14-year-old, championed the release of the files in order for the public to see how the sex offender’s wealth and power played a role in securing the kind of deal he got from local prosecutors.
“I think she [Belohlavek] should be embarrassed for what got released today and the world is now seeing what an awful job she did,” he said in an interview that aired on CBS12 on Monday evening.
“They were trying to avoid a prosecution of a clear rape of a minor, and the only reason that they were likely doing it at the time is because they were afraid of Epstein’s defense team.”
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But at the same time, the document dump proved how Florida prosecutors knew the late millionaire and financier —who was also an international spy — sexually assaulted teenage girls for two years before they cut a plea deal that has long been criticized as too lenient.
It was also a missed opportunity to take Epstein off the streets and maintain the safety and wellbeing of his other victims.
In 2005, police in Palm Beach first began investigating Epstein after a parent reported that Epstein had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter.
Belohlavek’s grand jury probe resulted in one charge of solicitation of prostitution against Epstein.
He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a controversial plea deal, and served almost 13 months in custody but with extensive work release.
Federal officials later identified 36 girls, some as young as 14 years old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused.
Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.
The investigations also uncovered Epstein's close ties to former President Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew, as well as his once friendly relationship with former President Donald Trump and numerous others of wealth and influence who have denied doing anything criminal or improper and who have not been charged.
“You got to think about the fact that they had over 40 victims at the time they brought this grand jury proceeding, yet they only chose two victims to bring before the grand jury,” added Kuvin.
The transcripts were released as part of a legal battle to make them public.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill in February that paved the way for Circuit Judge Luis Delgado to release the approximately 150 pages of graphic testimony on Monday. In his order, Judge Delgado said the transcripts show why Epstein was “the most infamous pedophile in American history."
“For almost 20 years, the story of how Jeffrey Epstein victimized some of Palm Beach County’s most vulnerable has been the subject of much anger and has at times diminished the public’s perception of the criminal justice system,” Delgado wrote.