New Mexico investigators began searching the sprawling former ranch of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Monday - a property now owned by the Republican nominee for Texas Comptroller - in what may be the first thorough law enforcement search of the site since Epstein's death nearly seven years ago.
At the direction of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, the New Mexico Department of Justice launched a search Monday of the former Zorro Ranch property, with the New Mexico State Police and Sandoval County Sheriff's Office providing assistance. The search is part of a criminal investigation into allegations of illegal activity at the ranch prior to Epstein's 2019 death.
Epstein purchased the sprawling property in Stanley, New Mexico - about 30 miles south of Santa Fe - in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a 26,700-square-foot hilltop mansion with a private runway. There is no public evidence that federal authorities ever searched Zorro Ranch after Epstein's death, even as the FBI carried out high-profile raids on his private Caribbean island and New York City townhouse.
The property was sold by Epstein's estate in 2023, with proceeds going toward creditors, to the family of Don Huffines - a Texas businessman and former Republican state senator who won the GOP primary for Texas Comptroller last week. He now faces Democrat Sarah Eckhardt in the November general election.
The New Mexico DOJ said it appreciates the cooperation of the current property owners in granting access and extended thanks to ranch staff for their professionalism. Huffines has said his family plans to convert the property - which he has renamed Rancho de San Rafael - into a Christian retreat. "This was obviously a dark place, and we wanted to put light in a dark place," Huffines said.
The investigation was triggered in part by the January release of millions of previously sealed DOJ files on Epstein, including an accusation that Epstein ordered the bodies of two foreign girls buried near the secluded property.
Attorney General Torrez reopened the criminal investigation on February 19, citing "revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files" that "warrant further examination." The state's initial probe was shut down in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York.
New Mexico lawmakers have also established a bipartisan four-member Epstein Truth Commission, charged with investigating allegations that the ranch may have facilitated sexual abuse and sex trafficking and examining why Epstein was never registered as a sex offender in New Mexico after his 2008 guilty plea in Florida. The commission has a $2 million budget and its first report to the Legislature is due in July.
No charges have been filed in connection with the ranch investigation. No injuries or fatalities have been confirmed as part of the current search.
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