AP Sources: Epstein Jail Guards Had Been Offered Plea Deal

Federal prosecutors offered a plea deal to two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein on the night of his death, but the officers have declined the offer, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.The existence of the plea offer signals the Justice Department is considering criminal charges in connection with the wealthy financier’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August. The city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.

The guards on Epstein’s unit are suspected of failing to check on him every half hour, as required, and of fabricating log entries to show they had. As part of the proposed plea deal, prosecutors wanted the guards to admit they falsified the prison records, according to the people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss the investigation.

Trump Responds After Two of His Top Advisers’ Foreign Work Sparks Backlash, Threatens Termination ‘If There’s a Conflict’

The Warning Signs Were There: Jelly Roll’s Comments About Zach Bryan Now Make All the Sense in the World

House Republican warns CBDC ‘communist money’ could lead US to ‘dystopian’ future

Lawsuit accuses Dearborn, Michigan, of being ‘hostile to Christians and Jews’ with Islamic displays

Wes Moore’s 2028 dodge complicates reelection pitch in Maryland

Former corrections officer accused of killing wife, forcing kids to help

Anti-Israel protesters label Mamdani a ‘traitor,’ accuse him of ‘genocide’ outside Oct 7 vigil

Texas executes Jamaal Howard despite concerns over lethal injection drug used in failed Tennessee execution

Trump to award Medal of Freedom to former pitcher Roger Clemens

SCOTUS Bought Congress Time on Deportations: Now Is the Time to Spend It

NFL All-Pro Draws Big Response by Posting a Video from Inside Trump’s Car

Ken Paxton calls out James Talarico’s 11-day absence at Trump rally, prompting response from campaign

Insurance Executive and His Family Found Dead in Mansion: Murder-Suicide Suspected

Trump heckled multiple times at Texas rally for Ken Paxton, blames ‘paid protesters’

FIRST ON FOX: US Coast Guard recruits largest class in nearly 40 years, beats goals for third straight year

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan had no comment on the plea offer. Both guards were working overtime because of staffing shortages. They have been placed on administrative leave while the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general investigate the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. The 66-year-old had been awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls. Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he was found on his cell floor July 23 with bruises on his neck. Multiple people familiar with operations at the jail have said Epstein was then taken off suicide watch about a week before his death, meaning he was less closely monitored but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

Epstein’s death exposed mounting evidence that the chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center may have bungled its responsibility to keep him alive. Guards often work overtime day after day, and other employees are pressed into service as correctional officers. 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 a Nov. 4 internal memo 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. “Falsification of information in government systems and documents is also a violation of policy, and may be subject to criminal prosecution as well,” Hawk Sawyer wrote in the memo to top prison officials, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.