Wife of suspended Palm Beach County clerk resigns from public boards to support him: "I know and love my husband"
The wife of the suspended Palm Beach County Clerk of Court is speaking out after his arrest, saying she believes he is innocent and has stepped down from public boards to stand by him.
According to an announcement reported by CBS News Miami's West Palm Beach affiliate, WPEC, Tracy Caruso said that she plans to devote her attention to supporting her husband, Michael Caruso.
Caruso is facing five felony charges involving the alleged abuse of a child under the age of 12.
WPEC reports that Tracy works as a certified rape crisis counselor, citing Palm Beach County records and an archived page detailing her biography.
According to the CBS affiliate, she was also the commissioner of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County and chaired the Palm Beach County Housing and Finance Authority. WPEC reported that she said that she is resigning from these boards because she doesn't want the allegations against her husband to become a distraction from those organizations.
"This decision should not be mistaken for retreat or an acknowledgment of wrongdoing," she said in a statement obtained by the CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach. "It is a decision about where I need to be right now: beside my husband."
She also said, according to WPEC, that the accusations against him are false.
"I know my husband. I love Mike, I believe him, and I believe in his innocence," she said. "I stand firmly beside him as he faces these serious allegations and works to clear his name."
She added that she believes there is additional context that has not yet been made public about the allegations against her husband.
"Mike is entitled to the same presumption of innocence as anyone else," she said. "Allegations are not convictions, and accusations are not proof."
Michael Caruso, 67, was arrested last week, accused of sexually molesting a family member who's younger than 12. It stemmed from alleged encounters on a cruise leaving South Florida as well as in Orange County, near Orlando.
He was ordered to be held without bond by both Orange County and Palm Beach County courts. Gov. Ron DeSantis also suspended him from his elected position running the clerk's office in Palm Beach County.