Wife of arrested DeSantis ally stands by him, calls child abuse allegations 'false'

Brittany Wallman and Shirsho Dasgupta, Miami Herald on Aug 24, 2026

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MIAMI — 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.”

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. Caruso 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.

A planned hearing for Friday was rescheduled for Sept. 8 before Circuit Judge A. James Craner. Pr osecutors filed a motion to keep him detained until his trial. The child at the center of the allegations was under 5.

He has entered a not-guilty plea.

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 in Manhattan federal court.

“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.”

‘My place is beside Mike’

Tracy, 55, and Mike Caruso, 67, married in 2015. Prior to that, Caruso was married for 31 years to Beverly Caruso, and the two had seven children. Beverly Caruso has declined comment since her ex-husband’s arrest.

The two divorced in 2014; in a 2013 divorce filing, Mike Caruso accused his ex-wife of orchestrating “a false sexual abuse case to be filed and pursued” against him. No criminal charges were filed, court records show.

Tracy Caruso is president of Delray Beach Executive Suites, and a contributor to the Florida Jolt conservative news outlet on Substack.

In a court filing detailing how the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had probable cause to have her husband arrested, the document says Tracy Caruso had been confronted with the allegations by someone associated with the victim (the person’s name is redacted). “She replied that her husband could be arrested and that the matter was, in her words, a ‘life in jail kinda thing,’” the court filing says.

In her statement Monday, Tracy Caruso said others “have rushed to judgment” even though people who are accused of a crime have a presumption of innocence in the criminal 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.”

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.”