By admin 
Tracy Caruso, the wife of suspended Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Mike Caruso arrested last week on child sex abuse charges, said Monday she believes in his innocence and will “stand firmly beside him as he faces these serious allegations and works to clear his name.”
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Caruso said she is resigning from public boards “to devote my attention and energy to standing with him through the fight ahead.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Tracy Caruso to the Palm Beach State College district board of trustees and the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. She was also appointed locally to the Palm Beach County Housing and Finance Authority and serves as the chairwoman.
“I know my husband,” her statement begins. “I love Mike, I believe him, and I believe in his innocence.”
Caruso was arrested Aug. 18; DeSantis, who appointed him to the clerk’s post last year, immediately suspended him from office. He is in jail in Orange County on charges of lewd or lascivious molestation, kidnapping, luring and enticing a child, lewd or lascivious exhibition and child abuse, according to his arrest affidavit. In a hearing Friday, prosecutors will argue to keep him detained until his trial.
He has entered a not-guilty plea.
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Tracy Caruso’s statement was issued to the Miami Herald by Juda Engelmayer, a crisis communications consultant whose clientele includes other prominent figures accused of sexual wrongdoing: Harvey Weinstein, Sean “Diddy” Combs and the three Alexander brothers convicted in March.
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“These accusations are false and do not reflect the man I know or the life we have built together,” the statement reads. “There is far more to this story than what has appeared in the headlines, including important context surrounding how these allegations came about. In short time, those facts will come to light.”
She said others “have rushed to judgment” even though people who are accused have a presumption of innocence in the justice system.
“Allegations are not convictions, and accusations are not proof. I will not abandon him because others have rushed to judgment,” she said in the statement. “My place is beside Mike, and I intend to devote my attention and energy to standing with him through the fight ahead.”
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Caruso said she is resigning from public boards so that her husband’s arrest doesn’t distract from “their important work.” The decision is not “a retreat or an acknowledgment of wrongdoing,” she said. “It is a decision about where I need to be right now: beside my husband.”
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This is a breaking news story and will be updated.