New Mexico authorities launched a search on Monday of a notorious secluded ranch previously owned by pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The New Mexico Department of Justice announced in a statement that it searched Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch on Monday morning at the direction of Attorney General Raúl Torrez, alongside local and state police.
Torrez reopened an investigation into the ranch last month, where the convicted sex offender once entertained guests, 30 miles south of Santa Fe. An original case opened to investigate the secretive outpost was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York.
State prosecutors have since argued that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”
The high-desert estate was long rumored to be one of several locations where Epstein flew underage girls on his private jet.
Epstein has never been charged with criminal wrongdoing in New Mexico, but the state attorney general’s office said in 2019 that it had interviewed possible victims who visited the massive ranch.
New Mexico state legislators also established a new commission last month to look into whether the desert ranch was used to facilitate sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
“This search is part of the criminal investigation announced by the New Mexico Department of Justice on February 19th into allegations of illegal activity at Epstein’s ranch prior to Epstein’s 2019 death,” the state DOJ wrote in a statement.
Authorities noted that they have had the cooperation of the ranch’s current property owners, who have allowed access for the search.
The dead child sex trafficker bought Zorro Ranch in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King — building a sprawling property that included a 26,700-square-foot hacienda-style mansion, guest houses, a pool, ranch offices, a firehouse, heated garages, a private airstrip, a hangar, and a helipad.
The property was later sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 and purchased by the family of former Texas state Sen. Don Huffines, a candidate for Texas comptroller who won the Republican primary.
“The New Mexico Department of Justice will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead,” the agency said in a statement.
Epstein died in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
With Post wires