Daily Kos Staff
Michael Caruso, the current clerk of court in Palm Beach County, Florida, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with multiple criminal offenses related to child sex abuse.
Investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have accused Caruso of abusing a young relative of his on multiple occasions, dating back to 2024. The department said the boy’s father told them his son accused Caruso of touching him and exposing himself to the child.
Caruso was charged with child abuse causing mental injury, lewd exhibition, kidnapping, and luring or enticing a child.
Caruso is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives. A Republican who operated as a close ally of current governor and failed presidential candidate Ron DeSantis in the legislature, Caruso was appointed to his current position in August 2025.
After news of Caruso’s arrest was released, DeSantis’ office announced he had been suspended.
The arrest is happening just a few years after DeSantis and other Republicans at the state and national level went after Disney, one of the biggest employers in Florida, after the company voiced opposition to Florida’s bigoted “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Republicans like DeSantis argued that Disney’s company policies supporting LGBTQ+ rights were a plot to sexualize children. For years, conservatives and Republican officeholders have pushed the thoroughly debunked allegation that support for LGBTQ+ equality, particularly backing transgender rights, is part of a “grooming” agenda.
The Trump administration has sought restrictions on transgender rights, arguing that in doing so it is protecting the rights of women and children in particular. In reality, restrictions on transgender equality have harmed these groups, especially transgender children who are already at high risk for self-harm.
Republican figures like Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert have aligned with DeSantis in attacking transgender equality and tolerance of LGBTQ+ people, but just last week, her son was charged with child sexual exploitation.
These cases will work their way through the court system and ultimate guilt or innocence will be determined, but these arrests show that the right may want to focus on its own movement—rather than smearing LGBTQ+ people—if it truly wants to protect children.
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Loyal DeSantis ally arrested on shocking charges – Daily Kos
