Feds file criminal charges against jail guards responsible for watching Jeffrey Epstein
BY JULIE K. BROWN AND DANIEL CHANG


Two corrections officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein on the night in August when he was found hanging in his jail cell were charged on Tuesday with failing to do their jobs and then covering up their dereliction.

Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, were charged with making false records and conspiring to interfere with the functions of the federal prison.

Noel, 31, and Thomas, 41, failed to check on Epstein every half hour as required, the indictment says, and falsified logs to make it appear they had in fact been monitoring the Palm Beach multimillionaire and sex offender on Aug. 9 and 10.

Instead of performing their duties, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday, Noel and Thomas “sat at their desk, browsed the internet, and moved around the common area of the SHU [Special Housing Unit].”

Instead of performing their jobs, the indictment says, they sat at a desk about 15 feet away from Epstein’s cell, walked around the common areas, and used the computers to search the internet for furniture sales, motorcycles and sports news. Internal surveillance video also showed them sitting at the desk without moving for about two hours, apparently asleep.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy