{"id":221230,"date":"2026-08-19T18:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/desantis-ally-and-appointee-is-arrested-on-child-sex-abuse-charges-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:42:23","slug":"desantis-ally-and-appointee-is-arrested-on-child-sex-abuse-charges-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/desantis-ally-and-appointee-is-arrested-on-child-sex-abuse-charges-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis ally and appointee is arrested on child sex abuse charges – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A former Florida lawmaker and political ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis was arrested Tuesday and accused of molesting a young boy at the child\u2019s home, on fishing excursions and while on a family cruise, arrest records show.
Michael Caruso, a 67-year-old Republican whom DeSantis appointed as Palm Beach County\u2019s clerk of courts and comptroller a year ago, was taken into custody by local police and officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
\u201cBeing in a position of public trust provides no shield from accountability,\u201d Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a statement Tuesday.
After the arrest was announced, DeSantis suspended Caruso from his post and noted in an executive order that the allegations include lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, kidnapping, child abuse causing mental injury, and luring or enticing a child.
Caruso had regular and unsupervised access to the child, a probable cause affidavit released by the governor\u2019s office said.
Caruso is accused of preying on the boy more than half a dozen times since Thanksgiving 2024, sometimes under the guise of playing \u201ctickle monster,\u201d according to the affidavit.
Asked at a news conference whether he was aware of the allegations before Caruso was nominated for the Palm Beach post, DeSantis said, \u201cOf course not.\u201d
\u201cHe had a clean vet, he was well-regarded in the community,\u201d the governor said.
DeSantis said that once he became aware of the allegations against Caruso, \u201cit was a very easy decision for me to yank him from this position.\u201d
Noting that Florida now has a death penalty for convicted pedophiles, DeSantis warned that if Caruso is found guilty of the allegations, \u201che is going to be in a world of hurt.\u201d
Caruso is running for re-election in November to retain the top county post that DeSantis appointed him to. Previously, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2018 to 2025. And when DeSantis ran for president in 2024, Caruso campaigned with him in Iowa.
Calls to Caruso\u2019s number, as well as his wife Tracy\u2019s number, went unanswered Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear whether Caruso has a lawyer.
The lawyer for the alleged victim blasted DeSantis for releasing information that could potentially identify the boy.
\u201cChild sexual abuse victims should never have identifying details about them released, and it is abhorrent that the child victim in connection with the arrest of Michael Caruso has been subjected to this breach,\u201d Lisa Haba of The Haba Law Firm<\/a> said in a statement on her firm\u2019s website.
The chain of events that led to Caruso\u2019s arrest began in December, when he was confronted by the boy\u2019s father about the alleged abuse, the affidavit states.
Caruso denied abusing the child but \u201cacknowledged that he had showered with all his own children,\u201d the affidavit states. He stated that he\u2019d previously been accused \u201cof sexually inappropriate behavior, including sexual battery\u201d by a female relative, according to the court document.
\u201cYou tell anyone, I\u2019m going to jail,\u201d Caruso told the child\u2019s father, according to the affidavit.
The boy\u2019s father also spoke with Tracy Caruso, who said her husband faced a \u201clife in jail kinda thing\u201d if police knew about the alleged behavior, according to the affidavit.
In February, the boy\u2019s father confronted Caruso again about the abuse allegations while wearing a wire for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the affidavit states.
During that conversation, Caruso \u201casserted that the allegations were impossible because, in substance, sexual deviation is directed toward only one sex rather than two, and because he is attracted to women he could not be a sex offender,\u201d the affidavit states.
Caruso urged the boy\u2019s father to keep quiet, allegedly saying, \u201cIf you report this to the authorities, there won\u2019t be any of me left, I can tell you that,\u201d according to the affidavit.
Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA former Florida lawmaker and political ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis was arrested Tuesday and accused of molesting a young boy at the child\u2019s home, on fishing excursions and while on a family cruise, arrest records show.Michael Caruso, a 67-year-old Republican whom DeSantis appointed as Palm Beach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":221231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}