Gaetz attended drug-fueled parties with call girls at Florida lobbyist's home, witnesses say

ORLANDO, Fla. — In the summer of 2017, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, attended a party filled with drugs and paid escorts that was hosted by former state Rep. Chris Dorworth at his Heathrow home, according to witness testimony in newly filed federal court documents.

One of the escorts attending the get-together was the 17-year-old girl — known only as A.B. in court filings — who is at the center of the Joel Greenberg sex-trafficking scandal. Call girls roamed the premises with “access to the bedrooms in the Dorworth residence to engage in sexual activities, as well as alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, also known as molly and marijuana,” according to statements quoted in the documents.

The case-file material, emerging as part of Dorworth’s April 2023 federal lawsuit against his former friend Greenberg, includes some of the most extensive details made public so far regarding a sex-trafficking controversy that has swirled around Gaetz for several years.

But while witnesses place him at the scene of illicit activity, the documents don’t include allegations or evidence that Gaetz himself used illegal drugs or had sex with the underage girl, a charge he has denied and federal investigators last year chose not to pursue. One document does quote the girl saying she had sex with Dorworth in exchange for $1,000, an allegation Dorworth, now a lobbyist, strongly disputed on Friday.

The tale told in the documents — primarily in a document submitted by Greenberg’s ex-wife that recounts evidence gathered as part of the suit — is lurid. It includes descriptions of two separate parties at Dorworth’s house a week apart, both attended by Gaetz, although A.B. is mentioned as attending only the first one.

A.B., 17, had just completed her junior year at a local high school and drove her mother’s car through the upscale community’s security entrance at about 6:15 p.m. on July 15, 2017, the date of the first party.

Upon arrival, attendees were told to put their cell phones into a large bowl on a counter, apparently to prevent photos and videos. As the party went on, A.B. was naked among the adult attendees, according to material in the document from Greenberg’s ex-wife, Abby, attributed to an affidavit from one of the escorts, identified as K.M.

Besides Gaetz, Dorworth and Greenberg also were at the party at the 8,200-square foot, six-bedroom home on Whitstable Court, according to K.M. Greenberg had taken office as Seminole’s tax collector just six months earlier.

Jacob Bliss, a spokesman for Gaetz's office, said in a brief email to the Sentinel Friday that Gaetz “has never participated” in the alleged events.

“If people said otherwise, they are either confused or lying,” Bliss said.

Dorworth eventually dropped his federal lawsuit against Greenberg this month, without giving a reason.

But now, Greenberg’s family, and the other defendants are seeking to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in attorneys fees, court costs and other expenses defending themselves against Dorworth’s litigation. That led to the filing of hundreds of pages of documents Thursday night.

Other material collected as part of the case remains sealed, including an interview with A.B., although it is briefly excerpted in the material from Abby Greenberg. That excerpt quotes the underage girl as saying she “engaged in various sexual activities” with Dorworth in a hotel in Lake Mary in the summer of 2017 while Joel Greenberg watched. She also says that at the conclusion of the encounter, “Mr. Greenberg provided me with an envelope with one thousand dollars in cash and said to me ‘this is from Chris’ or words to that effect.”

Dorworth denied ever meeting the girl in a Friday text message interview with the Orlando Sentinel, and said again as he had previously that he did not have sex with her. He also said he did not attend the July 15 party at his home.

“I was not there that evening,” Dorworth said by text. “I was at a friend’s birthday party on a lake far away.”

Attorneys for the defendants in Dorworth’s federal lawsuit against Greenberg and his family and businesses, however, presented Dorworth with evidence that he received phone calls from a cell tower less than two miles from his Heathrow home to an area in Maitland several times in the afternoon on the day of the July 15 party. He then received calls even closer to his home that evening, according to court records.

A week later, on July 22, a second party allegedly was held at Dorworth’s home, according to lawsuit documents from another female escort identified as L.P.

L.P. said Gaetz and Greenberg again were in attendance, along with several other call girls and lobbyists. A.B. is not mentioned by L.P.

L.P. said she also was told to put her cell phone in a bowl on the counter when she walked into the home.

“It was my understanding that this was done because the partygoers did not want any photographs or videos taken of the event,” according to her testimony. “The party included alcohol, drugs, middle-aged men and young and attractive women.”

L.P. also makes no allegation that Gaetz used illegal drugs or had sex with the escorts.

The U.S. Department of Justice in February 2023 decided against pursuing sex-trafficking charges against Gaetz, whose House District 1 lies in the Florida Panhandle.

The decision came after the Washington Post reported that federal prosecutors had credibility concerns with witnesses, including Greenberg.

Still, a U.S. House Ethics Committee continues with its own investigation into whether Gaetz did have sex with A.B. when she was 17 years old.

Greenberg was a friend of Gaetz and Dorworth while he was Seminole County’s tax collector from January 2017 until June 2020, when he resigned after he was first indicted on several federal charges.

The trio were often seen at parties at Dorworth’s house and dining at restaurants in Orlando and Tallahassee.

In the spring of 2019, they all visited Washington, D.C., with their families and took photos with then U.S. President Donald Trump on the White House lawn.

A.B. is now 25 years old and living in Colorado.

Greenberg is serving an 11-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to identity theft, stalking, conspiracy to bribe a public official and child sex trafficking, tied to A.B.

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