Florida released a child sex-abuse affidavit with identifying details of an alleged victim of former state Rep. Michael Caruso (R), appointed to his post by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement released the affidavit on Tuesday after Caruso was arrested on charges including kidnapping, molestation and child abuse.
FDLE reports directly to DeSantis, who suspended Caruso from office hours after the arrest. State Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book (D) condemned the release of the information.
“It is unacceptable that in releasing documents detailing horrific allegations of child sexual abuse by recently-removed Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Mike Caruso, the State failed to adequately protect the identity of the child victim,” Book wrote on X.
“The redactions left enough deeply personal identifying information to effectively ‘out’ this child — including his relationship to the accused and other incredibly sensitive details,” she added.
Raw Story reviewed the affidavit and found seven categories of identifying information left unredacted, including the child’s age, gender, county of residence, relationship to the suspect, relationship to everyone in the household, the county where the child received therapy, and the type of therapy received.
The document remained available Tuesday after being published by Axios reporter Marc Caputo. In his post, Caputo identified the victim’s relationship to Caruso.
“It never ceases to amaze me how Government officials seem to be able to redact all kinds of info to keep from the press and the public, but they still don’t put on their thinking caps when it comes to identifying child-sex victims,” Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown wrote on X.
Brown separately wrote that Caputo “should not have printed the affidavit with details that identify the child victims.”
The state’s handling of the affidavit stands in contrast to how Florida’s courts handled an earlier abuse allegation against Caruso, according to a Miami Herald review of Palm Beach County court records.
In a January 2013 divorce filing, Caruso himself acknowledged what he called a “false sexual abuse case,” the Herald reported. The court record contains no details of that case.
“Victims deserve privacy, dignity, and protection — especially children,” Book wrote. “Florida must do better, and I intend to make sure we do.”
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