Palm Beach County Clerk of Court and Comptroller Michael Caruso was arrested Tuesday on child sexual abuse charges, according to the Florida attorney general and court documents.

An arrest affidavit alleges the 67-year-old Caruso sexually abused a child younger than 12 multiple times over the last two years.

The charges filed against him are kidnapping, molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child and child abuse.

The charging documents show Caruso was someone the victim’s parents trusted to be alone with the child, but then the parents noticed the child exhibiting inappropriate behavior.

The child’s father confronted Caruso about wrongdoing but Caruso denied it and later said if law enforcement was alerted, he would have to go to jail, the documents said.

Attorney General James Uthmeier announced his arrest in a post on X on Tuesday morning.

“Early this morning, with substantial assistance from [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] and local law enforcement, Palm Beach County Clerk of Court Michael Caruso was arrested on charges related to child sexual abuse,” Uthmeier wrote. “The investigation is ongoing, and we will provide more information to the public at the appropriate time.”

According to the biography on his website, Caruso was appointed to the position in August 2025 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, following seven years in the Florida House of Representatives.

The governor suspended Caruso from his position on Tuesday morning.

“He had a clean vet. He was well regarded in the community,” DeSantis said. “There was a lot of people that wanted him to be appointed to that position, and there was none of that information that was in any of the vetting materials.”

DeSantis said the state initiated the investigation and the charges were brought by the statewide prosecutor.

“It’s obviously horrific crimes, but it’s also tough to build these cases. And so they worked very hard to build the case that could withstand the legal system,” he said. “But once they were willing to go and pull the trigger on the arrest, obviously it was a very easy decision for me to yank him from that position.”

The governor also mentioned a measure he signed into law that makes the death penalty for convicted pedophiles.

“And I’m proud that I signed that into law, and I’m proud that we have very strong penalties for people that abuse children,” he said. “And if he’s convicted, he is going to be in for a world of hurt.”

The Palm Beach County Clerk of Court and Comptroller posted a brief statement on X later Tuesday.

“This morning, our office was notified that Clerk Mike Caruso was arrested on serious criminal charges. We are awaiting additional information from the Governor’s office on next steps,” the post read.

The office said Shannon Ramsey-Chessman was sworn in as the Ad Interim Clerk.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.