{"id":376857,"date":"2026-08-20T20:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T20:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/376857\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T20:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T20:20:11","slug":"mike-caruso-faces-bond-hearing-on-child-abuse-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/376857\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Caruso faces bond hearing on child abuse charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mike Caruso, the suspended Palm Beach County clerk of courts who was arrested on child sexual abuse charges on Tuesday, now faces a hearing over whether he can be released on bond in Orlando.<\/p>\n<p>Caruso was extradited to Orlando after making his first appearance in Palm Beach County on Wednesday. Clad in a jumpsuit, he made his first appearance in an Orange County courtroom on Thursday afternoon, represented by attorney Jason Weiss.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Brian Duckworth denied Caruso bond and set a pretrial detention hearing for 9 a.m. Tuesday. Caruso was again ordered to have no contact with the victim or any witnesses in the case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, your honor,\u201d he said. Caruso is also forbidden from contact with anyone under the age of 18.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Mike Caruso, 67, was transferred to the Orange County Jail on Wednesday. He is facing charges of kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child, and child abuse (mental injury). (Orange County Corrections Department\/Courtesy)\" width=\"500\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tfl-l-michael-caruso.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"15268103\" \/>Mike Caruso, 67, was transferred to the Orange County Jail on Wednesday. He is facing charges of kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child, and child abuse (mental injury). (Orange County Corrections Department\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n<p>The former clerk of courts is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2026\/08\/18\/palm-beach-county-clerk-of-courts-mike-caruso-arrested-on-child-sexual-abuse-charges\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">facing five felony counts<\/a> related to the abuse of a young family member: kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child, and child abuse (mental injury). The sexual abuse began in 2024 and continued until at least August 2025, according to a probable cause affidavit.<\/p>\n<p>The victim of the sexual abuse was a boy under the age of 12, according to the affidavit. The boy lives in Orange County, and the affidavit describes specific encounters between Caruso and the child on a fishing trip, on a cruise out of Miami and during a holiday gathering.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Caruso, the suspended Palm Beach County clerk of courts who was arrested on child sexual abuse charges&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[112,28,29,114,115,139,141,140,99,109],"class_list":["post-376857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}