NEW YORK (AP) — Two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself were charged Tuesday with falsifying prison records.
A grand jury indictment made public Tuesday accused guards Toval Noel and Michael Thomas of neglecting their duties by failing to perform checks on Epstein every half hour, as required, and of fabricating log entries to show they had.
The charges against the officers are the first in connection with the wealthy financier’s death in August at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.
The city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.
A message left with union officials representing the guards wasn’t immediately returned.
Perception that Trump is going too far on immigration is flashback to Obama days
Appeals court says Texas can enforce drag show ban, suggests not all drag shows violate state law
Federal judge rules Trump’s Portland National Guard deployment unconstitutional in permanent injunction
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to a potential procedrual vote on an interim spending bill
Seattle robber bites off 88-year-old woman’s finger during violent robbery, police say
FIRST ON FOX: California’s top public university under fire for ‘LatinX’ and ‘Pilipinx’ race-based scholarship
Miami-Dade deputy fatally shot during altercation, prompting massive police response
Former DACA recipient with violent criminal past flees ICE, tries balcony jump during Chicago arrest
James Watson, Nobel Prize-winning co-discoverer of DNA’s double-helix structure, dead at 97
House Dem reveals why she hijacked Speaker Johnson’s presser with viral outburst
Supreme Court blocks lower court order forcing Trump administration to fully fund SNAP program
BBC Finds Star Anchor Showed Bias by Correctly Pointing Out ‘Pregnant People’ are ‘Women’ During Report
ABC Abruptly Cancels ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Taping and Airs a Rerun, Sparking Speculation
Dems block GOP bill ensuring federal worker, military paychecks continue during shutdown
EXCLUSIVE: House Republican targets ‘woke’ testing in bill to restore classical education at military schools
Epstein’s death while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused underage girls was a major embarrassment for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The cell where he died was in a high-security unit, famous for having held terrorists and drug cartel kingpins. Epstein’s death, though, revealed the jail was suffering from problems including chronic staffing shortages that lead to mandatory overtime for guards day after day and other staff being pressed into service as correctional officers.
Attorney General William Barr has said investigators found “serious irregularities” at the jail and the FBI’s investigation had been slowed because some witnesses were uncooperative.
Epstein had been placed on suicide watch after he was found July 23 on the floor of his cell with a bruised neck. Multiple people familiar with operations at the jail say Epstein was taken off the watch after about a week, meaning he was less closely monitored but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.
Perception that Trump is going too far on immigration is flashback to Obama days
Appeals court says Texas can enforce drag show ban, suggests not all drag shows violate state law
Federal judge rules Trump’s Portland National Guard deployment unconstitutional in permanent injunction
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to a potential procedrual vote on an interim spending bill
Seattle robber bites off 88-year-old woman’s finger during violent robbery, police say
FIRST ON FOX: California’s top public university under fire for ‘LatinX’ and ‘Pilipinx’ race-based scholarship
Miami-Dade deputy fatally shot during altercation, prompting massive police response
Former DACA recipient with violent criminal past flees ICE, tries balcony jump during Chicago arrest
James Watson, Nobel Prize-winning co-discoverer of DNA’s double-helix structure, dead at 97
House Dem reveals why she hijacked Speaker Johnson’s presser with viral outburst
Supreme Court blocks lower court order forcing Trump administration to fully fund SNAP program
BBC Finds Star Anchor Showed Bias by Correctly Pointing Out ‘Pregnant People’ are ‘Women’ During Report
ABC Abruptly Cancels ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Taping and Airs a Rerun, Sparking Speculation
Dems block GOP bill ensuring federal worker, military paychecks continue during shutdown
EXCLUSIVE: House Republican targets ‘woke’ testing in bill to restore classical education at military schools
Investigators believe those checks weren’t done for several hours before Epstein was discovered in his cell with a bedsheet around his neck, another person familiar with the matter told AP. That person likewise spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.
Prosecutors had wanted the guards to admit they falsified the prison records as part of a plea offer that they rejected, according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss the investigation.
Federal prosecutors had subpoenaed up to 20 staff members at the jail in August. The case was a top priority for the Justice Department. Both Barr and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen received regular updates.
Falsification of records has been a problem throughout the federal prison system.
Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who was named director of the Bureau of Prisons after Epstein’s death, disclosed in an internal memo earlier this month that a review of operations across the agency found some staff members failed to perform required rounds and inmate counts but logged that they had done so anyway. A copy of the memo was obtained by the AP.
Perception that Trump is going too far on immigration is flashback to Obama days
Appeals court says Texas can enforce drag show ban, suggests not all drag shows violate state law
Federal judge rules Trump’s Portland National Guard deployment unconstitutional in permanent injunction
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to a potential procedrual vote on an interim spending bill
Seattle robber bites off 88-year-old woman’s finger during violent robbery, police say
FIRST ON FOX: California’s top public university under fire for ‘LatinX’ and ‘Pilipinx’ race-based scholarship
Miami-Dade deputy fatally shot during altercation, prompting massive police response
Former DACA recipient with violent criminal past flees ICE, tries balcony jump during Chicago arrest
James Watson, Nobel Prize-winning co-discoverer of DNA’s double-helix structure, dead at 97
House Dem reveals why she hijacked Speaker Johnson’s presser with viral outburst
Supreme Court blocks lower court order forcing Trump administration to fully fund SNAP program
BBC Finds Star Anchor Showed Bias by Correctly Pointing Out ‘Pregnant People’ are ‘Women’ During Report
ABC Abruptly Cancels ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Taping and Airs a Rerun, Sparking Speculation
Dems block GOP bill ensuring federal worker, military paychecks continue during shutdown
EXCLUSIVE: House Republican targets ‘woke’ testing in bill to restore classical education at military schools
Epstein’s death ended the possibility of a trial that would have involved prominent figures and sparked widespread anger that he wouldn’t have to answer for the allegations.
He had pleaded not guilty and was preparing to argue that he could not be charged because of a 2008 deal he made to avoid federal prosecution on similar allegations.
Epstein’s death prompted a whirl of conspiracy theories from people, including members of Epstein’s family and some of his alleged victims, who questioned whether it was possible that he’d killed himself in such a high-security setting.
Story cited here.
