Then Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Palm Beach, applauds as Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls finishes his opening remarks to the Florida House of Representatives during opening day of the 2022 Florida Legislative Session, Jan. 11, 2022. Caruso, Palm Beach County’s clerk of the courts, was arrested Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, on child sex-abuse charges.
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
Michael Allen Caruso, a former state legislator whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed as Palm Beach County’s clerk of courts and comptroller, was arrested early Tuesday morning on allegations of molesting a child.
The 67-year-old Republican is running for re-election in November to retain the top county post that DeSantis appointed him to last August. But no other Republican is contesting him, meaning his name is not on Tuesday’s primary ballot.
DeSantis has the authority to suspend elected officials accused of crimes — a power he has regularly used. A spokesperson for the governor’s office said Tuesday morning that DeSantis is planning to issue an order suspending Caruso.
Caruso’s first wife — Beverly Caruso, the mother of their seven children — had previously accused him of sexually assaulting a child, according to a Herald review of his divorce case filed in Palm Beach County in 2012, but he had dismissed the allegations as false.
Caruso’s wife, Tracy Stein Caruso, also did not respond to the Herald’s requests for comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
If you have any information or tip, please reach out to Shirsho Dasgupta at sdasgupta@miamiherald.com or Brittany Wallman at bwallman@miamiherald.com
Shirsho Dasgupta
Miami Herald
Shirsho Dasgupta combines traditional reporting with data analysis to produce high-impact stories and accountability journalism. A two-time Livingston Award finalist, he also won a Sigma Delta Chi Award in 2025 and was named finalist for the Scripps Howard Award in 2024. His stories have spurred investigations, influenced legislation and received numerous awards and citations from the National Press Foundation, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and others.
Brittany Wallman
Miami Herald
Brittany Wallman joined the Miami Herald in 2023 as an investigative journalist. A graduate of the University of Florida, she has been a newspaper journalist for 35 years. In 2026, she shared in a Pulitzer finalist honor for the series Killer Train. She previously shared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, for coverage of the Parkland school shooting. She grew up in Iowa and Oklahoma.