Former GOP State Lawmaker And DeSantis Appointee Arrested On Child Sex Abuse Charges

Early this morning, with substantial assistance from FDLE and local law enforcement, Palm Beach County Clerk of Court Michael Caruso was arrested on charges related to child sexual abuse.

The investigation is ongoing, and we will provide more information to the public at the…

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) August 18, 2026

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A call to his cell phone went immediately to voicemail, followed by an alert that his inbox is full and cannot receive messages. According to his arrest report, suggested his ex-wife fabricated the allegations to “poison the child against him.”

Investigators say Caruso abused a young relative on multiple occasions beginning in fall 2024, including during a fishing trip, at a Thanksgiving gathering and aboard a family cruise.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the boy’s father discovered the abuse in October after seeing the boy behaving in a sexualized manner with his younger brother. The boy told his father Caruso had touched him and exposed himself on prior occasions.

The boy recalled the cruise, during which Caruso separated him from his parents for about an hour under the guise of getting ice cream. The boy’s uncle later noticed Caruso had changed clothes when he returned.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Caruso will be held without bail in the Orange County Jail, pending his first appearance before a judge. He said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are expected.

DeSantis appointed Caruso, a Republican and former state legislator, to serve as the clerk and comptroller in August, replacing Joe Abruzzo, who had become Palm Beach County administrator.

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As a FL legislator, Mike Caruso supported death penalty for pedophiles in 2023

Now he has been arrested for allegedly molesting his grandson

The state plans to present the case to a grand jury and that could lead to his own execution if he’s charged and convicted under that law https://t.co/yVVNwrhwXz

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) August 18, 2026

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On or about Oct. 22, 2025, the victim’s father, Caruso’s son, saw the boy perform a sexualized act on his younger brother and, after intervening, asked him about it. The boy told his father that during a family cruise the preceding Summer, Caruso “placed his ‘pp’ in his mouth and ‘peed’ and it was ‘nasty.’” The boy added that he had showered with Caruso.

In a following interview with law enforcement, the boy disclosed several additional acts of alleged abuse. Around Thanksgiving 2024, the boy said Caruso touched, tickled and “fondled” his penis, touched the victim’s buttocks and exposed his own penis.

Upon being confronted about the boy’s accusations on Dec. 6, 2025, Caruso denied everything. He asked if his ex-wife, Beverly, the mother of all his children, had contacted the boy. The ex-wife, according to 2012 divorce filings in Palm Beach County, had accused him of sexually assaulting a child. Caruso’s daughter had as well. Caruso denied wrongdoing.

Caruso defended himself by asking if he had ever abused his son, the boy’s father. However, he acknowledged it was his daughter who had accused him of inappropriate behavior, including sexual battery.

He added that he would never try to be alone with the boy because of the previous accusation of abuse and offered to never return to Orange County, where his son’s family lived, in exchange for the matter being kept private.

During a conversation Caruso’s son recorded with his father on Feb. 10, 2026, at the request of law enforcement, Caruso again denied wrongdoing. He said the allegations were impossible because sexual deviancy is directed toward one sex, and he was attracted to women.

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