New 2001 police report shows prior Epstein probe in Palm Beach; handwritten notes add disturbing details

Palm Beach police investigated Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001 after PBAU students said Maxwell recruited young women on campus. Newly surfaced handwritten notes dated 2021 include more explicit allegations than what appears in the original police file.

Palm Beach police investigated Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001 after PBAU students said Maxwell recruited young women on campus. Newly surfaced handwritten notes dated 2021 include more explicit allegations than what appears in the original police file.

Palm Beach police investigated Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001 after PBAU students said Maxwell recruited young women on campus. Newly surfaced handwritten notes dated 2021 include more explicit allegations than what appears in the original police file.

PALM BEACH, Fla. —

Palm Beach police investigated Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001, three years before the better-known 2005 case that led to sex charges against Epstein, according to a newly uncovered police report found in the Epstein files.

The December 2001 case is titled “Prostitution -- Epstein.”

The report states West Palm Beach police sent Palm Beach detectives information that “Maxwell is hiring young women from PBAC to come to her house and answer the phone.”

Detectives wrote that Maxwell approached three female Palm Beach Atlantic University students and said she needed “young, beautiful, unmarried women” to answer phones and do office work at her Palm Beach mansion.

The students told police Epstein touched two of them inappropriately and that Maxwell wanted names of additional girls because she needed a large pool to call, according to the report.

Detectives conducted surveillance, searched trash and subpoenaed phone records.

Four months later, after follow-up interviews, detectives concluded: “Although it appears as though unusual activity is occurring at this residence, at this time no illegal activity has been reported or detected.” The case was filed as intelligence only.

"THIS IS HOW RICH PEOPLE LIVE - BEAUTIFUL NAKED PEOPLE"

While reviewing the Epstein files, WPBF 25 investigative reporter Terri Parker also found eight pages of handwritten notes dated October 2021 that recount a Palm Beach Atlantic student’s experience.

It is unclear who took the notes or whether they were prepared for a later lawsuit or investigation.

In the notes, the student said she was “approached out of the blue” on campus by Maxwell and asked if she was interested in secretary work.

“I said no. What about for $200? I said sure,” the student recalled.

She said that the job escalated into giving Epstein massages, describing “all over touch” and encounters by the pool, in the kitchen and upstairs, where more "intimate" encounters occurred.

At one point, she reflected on her conclusions about the mansion, writing:

“This is how rich people live – beautiful naked people around.”

"SHE TOOK CARE OF THOSE GUESTS"

The notes also describe a young woman who was "thinner" and had "light brown dirty blonde" hair and lived at Epstein’s home and had a room upstairs.

“They had guests that stayed upstairs. She took care of those guests and my understanding is that’s how she got to live there,” the student wrote.

She said Maxwell directed her to shred Epstein's inch-thick homemade phone books whenever they were updated.

The student also wrote she was paid “$200 an hour in $100 bills.”

She said she eventually dropped out of college and and no longer went to the mansion around 2002.

According to the notes, she later met with “Vice Squad” officers investigating a prostitution ring.

“They asked I would continue to go back and get info. I said no,” she wrote.

Those additional details do not appear in the 2001 police report.

Parker said she texted former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter about the earlier investigation. Reiter told her he was not informed about the 2001 case by his detectives and said he was surprised it was not mentioned when the 2005 investigation began.

The 2001 investigation ended without charges.

Now, 25 years later, the combination of the original police report and the handwritten notes is raising new questions about what detectives were told at the time and how Epstein and Maxwell were able to continue their activities even after being on police radar.