HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018926 Lawyer: Jur° often believe &hilts over kids 10- EPSTEIN from 1B his current job, has returned $10,000 to him because of the Palm Beach scandal, the New York Daily News has reported. Rather than file charges, the state attorney's office presented the case to a county grand jury. The panel indicted Epstein last week on a single, less serious charge of felony solicitation of pros- titution. The case raised eyebrows because the state attorney's office rarely, if ever, kicks such charges to a grand jury. And it increases the difficulty of prosecuting child sex abuse cases, especially when the defendant is enormously wealthy and can hire high- priced, top-tier lawyers. At least one of Epstein's alleged victims told police he knew she was underage when the two of them got naked for massages and sex- ual activity. She was 16 years old at the time and said Ep- stein asked her questions about her high school, ac- cording to police reports. A girl who, said she met Epstein when she was 15 said he told her if she told any- body what happened at his house, bad things could hap- pen, the police reports state. Epstein's youngest al- leged victim was 14 when she says she gave him a massage that included some sexual activity. She is now 16. The girl's father says he doesn't know whether she told Ep- stein her age. "My daughter has kept a lot of what happened from me because of sheer embarrass- ment," he said. "But she very much looked 14. Any prudent man would have had second thoughts about that" Defense attorney Jack Goldberger maintains that not only did Epstein pass a polygraph test showing he did not know the girls were minors, but their stories weren't credible. The state attorney's office also implied that their credibility was an issue when it decided not to charge Epstein directly, but instead give the case to the grand jury. "A prosecutor has to look at it in a much broader fash- ion," a stat