Jeffrey Epstein guards who were meant to be watching paedo when he killed himself arrested for falsifying records
TWO prison guards in charge of monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself falsified records to cover up their failure to check him, say prosecutors.
The shamed paedophile's jail cell death occurred while Tova Noel and Michael Thomas fell asleep and surfed the internet, a court has heard.
On Tuesday afternoon, the pair pleaded not guilty before US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn to charges they falsely certified to having conducted inmate counts during Epstein's final hours, and to a conspiracy charge.
They are each expected to be released on bail, reports Reuters.
The news comes amid unproven but mounting conspiracy theories the deviant financier was murdered while behind bars.
Epstein died in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.
FELL ASLEEP
Prosecutors said Noel and Thomas, the only correctional officers on duty in Epstein's unit, appeared to have fallen asleep for two hours during their shift.
Noel spent some of her waking hours surfing the internet for furniture sales and benefit websites, they said, while Thomas looked up websites for motorcycle sales and sports news.
The officers are suspected of failing to check on him every half-hour - as required - and then fabricating log entries to claim they had.
PLEA BARGAIN
Prosecutors had offered the guards a plea bargain, but the Associated Press has revealed they declined the deal.
The defendants were the first to be criminally charged in connection with Epstein's death, which embarrassed federal officials because the case had an unusually high profile.
Both jailhouse guards were working overtime because of staffing shortages when Epstein was found, it has been reported.
The officers have been on leave while the FBI and Justice Department investigate the circumstances surrounding Epstein's hanging.
The city's medical examiner promptly ruled Epstein's death a suicide, but that hasn't stopped theories the sex fiend was murdered.
New York City’s former chief medical examiner Dr Michael Baden believes the he did not kill himself and was most likely strangled.
The respected expert now suspects foul play, even though the current chief medical examiner announced the death was a "suicide".
“I think that the evidence points toward homicide rather than suicide,” Baden.
He was hired by Epstein’s family to observe his autopsy after the shamed financier was found hanged in his cell.
Epstein's sudden death ended the possibility of a trial that would have involved his famous and wealthy friends.
It also sparked widespread anger that he wouldn't have to answer for the shocking allegations laid against him.
Who was Jeffrey Epstein and what was he accused of?
Jeffrey Epstein was a US financier who was convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution in 2008.
He was arrested on July 6, 2019 for sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York.
Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019 on sex trafficking charges.
Court documents allege that at least 40 underage girls were brought to Epstein’s mansion for sexual encounters.
He was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
FBI agents are also said to have broken down the door to his Manhattan townhouse.
He pleaded not guilty to child sex trafficking charges in New York and could have faced 45 years in prison if found guilty.
On July 18, a federal judge said that the disgraced financier presented a "danger to the community" and must stay in one of New York's toughest prisons while he awaited trial over the sex trafficking accusations.
The shamed financier was locked up amid fears he would flee the country.
He had pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
Even with his death, federal prosecutors in New York have continued to investigate the allegations against Epstein.
The Justice Department has vowed to aggressively investigate and bring charges against anyone who may have helped him.
There is also a related investigation in Paris, where accusers are complaining police haven't done enough to track down potential witnesses.
Jeffrey Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he was found July 23 on his cell floor with bruises on his neck.
Multiple people familiar with operations at the jail have said Epstein was taken off suicide watch about a week before his death.
That would have meant he was less closely monitored but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Investigators believe those checks weren't done for several hours before Epstein was found hanged in his cell, reports the Associated Press.
The falsification of records has been a problem throughout the US prison system - due to staffing shortages as a result of chronic violence.
A recent prisons review found some guards failed to perform required rounds and inmate counts but logged that they had done so anyway.
