WASHINGTON, July 10 -- The attorney general of New Mexico is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of withholding unredacted records that his office needs to prosecute potential crimes at Jeffrey Epstein's former desert compound, warning that every day of federal delay is allowing an active criminal case to deteriorate.

In a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche dated June 30 and made public on Thursday, Raul Torrez wrote that his office has spent more than 130 days trying to obtain documents from federal prosecutors and has received nothing of substance. The letter marks the sharpest public rebuke yet from a state law enforcement official over the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files.

"Every day that the USDOJ ...