These Text Message Receipts Reportedly Led Feds to Rep. Matt Gaetz

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Federal investigators began looking into Florida U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz following a mysterious after-hours visit to a Florida tax agency where a former local official was allegedly churning out fake IDs, the Daily Beast reports. Little did they know that was just the tip of the iceberg. Gaetz now faces a Justice Department probe into allegations of sex trafficking in a growing scandal that was outlined in a New York Times report this week.

The congressman, who was a close ally of former President Donald Trump, purportedly attracted federal scrutiny during an investigation into the aforementioned official, Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, for identity theft and stalking. Greenberg is also the subject of a Justice Department probe over a bevy of eyebrow-raising charges, including allegations that he and Gaetz recruited young women online, at least one of whom was 17 years old, and paid them for sex.

A series of text messages referencing the clandestine visit and attempts to secure Gaetz an ID under the table eventually led Secret Service agents to the congressman, per the outlet. Three people with direct knowledge of the incident told the Daily Beast that Greenberg brought Gaetz to the Lake Mary, Florida branch of his tax collection agency on a weekend in April 2018. When an employee returned to the office on Monday, she was surprised to find drivers’ licenses “scattered all over the desk instead of in the appropriate disposal basket.” Upon reviewing security camera footage and seeing that Greenberg and another man had stopped by the office after hours, she said she contacted her boss.