HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018923 FD-350 (Rev. 5-8-81) o Mount Clipping in Space Below) (Indicate page, name of newspaper, dity and state.) 20B / The Palm Beach Post West Palm Beach, FL Date: 8/4/2006 Edition: Title: He was over 50 And they were girls Character or Classification: 31E-MM-1 08062 Submitting Office: MM He was over 50. And they were girls If the women whom Palm Beach police say a part-time town resident invited to his home and paid for sex acts were, in fact, women, the solicitation charge against Jeffrey Epstein might feel more sufficient But, according to police records, they weren't He was over 50. And they were girls. Elise Cramer 14. 15. 16. 17-year-old girls. That should count for some- thing — the dif- ference between prostitution and pedophilia. So, it is baffling that Mr. Epstein, who was indicted last month by a grand jury on one felony count of solicitation of pros- titution, has not been charged, as Palm Beach police strenuously urged, with unlawful sex acts with a minor and lewd and lascivious molestation. Conviction of crimes against mi- nors would mean steeper penalties than the maximum five-year prison term Mr. Epstein faces if convicted of the single count of felony solicita- tion. It also would help carry a mes- sage of intolerance to perverts who prey on girls. Prosecutors did not pursue charg- es against Mr. Epstein reflecting the age of the victims because they assumed a jury would view the girls not as victims but as promiscuous, untrustworthy, willing participants. The presumption is offensive. Mr. Epstein, a 53-year-old Man- hattan money manager who has hired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and defense attor- ney Jack Goldberger, has denied knowing how old the girls were. Jury should have decided if Epstein is a pedophile. But police interviews with five alleged victims and 17 witnesses under oath, as well as phone mes- sages, a high school transcript and other items that