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Jeffrey Epstein Suicide: Two Jail Workers Charged Guards Accused of Napping and Shopping Online the Night Epstein Died
(about 2 hours later)
Two federal workers who were on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail were charged on Tuesday with failing to check on him every half-hour as they were supposed to and then lying about it on prison documents. The night that Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself in a Manhattan jail, one of the guards on duty was catching up on sports news and looking at motorcycle sales on a government computer. The other spent time shopping online for furniture. For about two hours, they appeared to be asleep at a desk just 15 feet away from Mr. Epstein’s cell.
The two federal Bureau of Prisons employees, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, were expected to appear in United States District Court in Manhattan to face charges including conspiracy and making false records. Those details were revealed in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday against the two jail employees. The indictment said neither guard made the required rounds every 30 minutes to check on inmates. Yet both filed paperwork claiming they had.
The charges are the first to arise from a criminal investigation into the death of Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who hanged himself at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The entire night, from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., security cameras showed that nobody entered the wing where Mr. Epstein had been left alone in his cell, the indictment said. The guards, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, only discovered Mr. Epstein was dead when they entered the area to serve him breakfast.
The indictment for the first time laid out a detailed, official account of what happened inside the jail the night that Mr. Epstein died inside a high-security protective housing unit. It said that video evidence showed no one entered the wing where Mr. Epstein was being held between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. when he was found. “I messed up,” Mr. Thomas reportedly told a supervisor just minutes later, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors accused Ms. Noel, 31, and Mr. Thomas, 41, of failing to make their required rounds to check on detainees. Instead, according to the indictment, the two “sat at their desk, browsed the internet and moved around the common area.” On Tuesday, Mr. Thomas, 41, and Ms. Noel, 31, became the first people to face charges stemming from a criminal investigation into the death of Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who the authorities say killed himself at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan where he was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
They then signed “count sheets” saying they had checked on inmates several times overnight when they had not. The workers only discovered Mr. Epstein had hanged himself in his cell — 15 feet from their desk — when they went to give him breakfast at 6:30 a.m., the indictment said. The indictment against the two guards laid out, for the first time, a detailed, official narrative of what happened inside the high-security unit where Mr. Epstein died. Prosecutors painted a picture of two experienced correctional officers who failed to perform their basic duties.
“The defendants had a duty to ensure the safety and security of federal inmates in their care at the Metropolitan Correctional Center,” Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement. “Instead, they repeatedly failed to conduct mandated checks on inmates and lied on official forms to hide their dereliction.”“The defendants had a duty to ensure the safety and security of federal inmates in their care at the Metropolitan Correctional Center,” Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement. “Instead, they repeatedly failed to conduct mandated checks on inmates and lied on official forms to hide their dereliction.”
Mr. Epstein, 66, had been in custody for more than a month when he was found dead on Aug. 10. New York City’s chief medical examiner ruled the death a suicide. Lawyers for Mr. Epstein have challenged that finding, and a forensic pathologist hired by Mr. Epstein’s family has claimed that “evidence points to homicide.” Ms. Noel, 31, and Mr. Thomas, 41, were charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and with making false records. They both surrendered to the F.B.I. on Tuesday morning and pleaded not guilty at a hearing in United States District Court in Manhattan in the afternoon. Bail was set at $100,000 each.
The indictment backed up the medical examiner’s finding and appeared to rebut a conspiracy theory suggesting Mr. Epstein did not kill himself. It said that only corrections officers on duty would have had access to the unit where Mr. Epstein was being held and that security camera video suggested only two other officers entered the unit during that time. Instead of monitoring detainees, the two “sat at their desk, browsed the internet and moved around the common area,” the indictment said. They then signed “count sheets” saying they had checked on inmates multiple times overnight when they had not.
The indictment filed by prosecutors painted a picture of two workers with years of experience who failed to perform a basic and essential duty of their jobs: making sure inmates were alive and accounted for. Mr. Epstein, 66, had been in custody for more than a month when he was found dead on Aug. 10, having hanged himself from a bunk bed with a strip of bedsheet. New York City’s chief medical examiner ruled the death a suicide.
Ms. Noel and Mr. Thomas came under scrutiny shortly after Mr. Epstein’s death, because they were responsible for monitoring the high-security protective housing unit where Mr. Epstein, who had only recently been removed from a suicide watch, was being held. Lawyers for Mr. Epstein have challenged that finding, and a forensic pathologist hired by Mr. Epstein’s family has claimed that broken bones and cartilage in Mr. Epstein’s neck “points to homicide.”
Ms. Noel had been working as a corrections officer in the Manhattan jail since 2016. Mr. Thomas started there as a corrections officer in 2007, and though he was assigned to another position within the jail in 2013, he frequently worked overtime shifts as an officer, the indictment said. But the indictment appeared to back up the medical examiner’s finding. It said that the two correction officers on duty were the only people who would have had access to the ninth-floor “special housing unit” where Mr. Epstein was being held.
The workers were supposed to check in on Mr. Epstein and other inmates every 30 minutes, according to the indictment. Instead, they spent several hours sitting at a desk near Mr. Epstein’s cell, surfing the internet and walking around a common area. Security camera video showed two other officers entered the unit’s common area during the night and spoke to the guards, but no one entered the locked block of eight cells where Mr. Epstein was housed.
At times when they were supposed to be performing mandatory inmate counts, Ms. Noel and Mr. Thomas were online shopping; she looked at furniture sales and he browsed motorcycles and caught up on sports news. Three weeks before Mr. Epstein’s death, he had been found injured on the floor of his cell with a bedsheet wrapped around his neck in what appeared to be a suicide attempt. Mr. Thomas was one of the officers who found him, according to the indictment.
For about two hours during their shift, both of them sat at the desk without moving, leading investigators to conclude they were likely asleep, according to the indictment. Mr. Epstein was then placed on a 24-hour suicide watch in a hospital wing until July 30. He was subsequently required to have a cellmate and was assigned to the cell closest to the correction officers’ desk in the special housing unit.
At no point did the workers leave their desk to check on inmates, according to the indictment. But they falsified records to cover up what they had done, with Ms. Noel signing more than 75 entries suggesting she had conducted 30-minute checks. But on Aug. 9, the day before Mr. Epstein was found dead, his cellmate was transferred out in a “routine, prearranged transfer,” the indictment said.
That evening, Ms. Noel and Mr. Thomas were both working overtime shifts. Ms. Noel had been working as a correction officer in the Manhattan jail since 2016. Mr. Thomas started there as a correction officer in 2007, and though he was assigned to another position within the jail in 2013, he frequently worked overtime shifts as an officer, the indictment said.
Mr. Epstein was escorted into his cell by Ms. Noel and another guard shortly before 8 p.m., according to the indictment. By 10 p.m., inmates were locked in their cells for the night.
At around 10:30 p.m., surveillance footage showed Ms. Noel walking up to the only door to the cluster of cells where Mr. Epstein was housed, the indictment said. Over the next few hours, nobody approached the wing, including Ms. Noel and Mr. Thomas. They were supposed to check in on Mr. Epstein and other inmates every half-hour.
Both guards falsified records to cover up what they had done, according to the indictment. Ms. Noel signed more than 75 entries that night suggesting she had conducted 30-minute checks.
The next morning, when Ms. Noel and Mr. Thomas entered Mr. Epstein’s cell, they found him unresponsive “with a noose around his neck,” according to the indictment. When a supervisor arrived, the guards admitted they had not properly performed their duties.The next morning, when Ms. Noel and Mr. Thomas entered Mr. Epstein’s cell, they found him unresponsive “with a noose around his neck,” according to the indictment. When a supervisor arrived, the guards admitted they had not properly performed their duties.
“We did not complete the 3 a.m. nor 5 a.m. rounds,” Ms. Noel said, according to the indictment.“We did not complete the 3 a.m. nor 5 a.m. rounds,” Ms. Noel said, according to the indictment.
“We messed up,” Mr. Thomas said, then later said, “I messed up, she’s not to blame, we didn’t do any rounds.” Mr. Thomas said, “She’s not to blame, we didn’t do any rounds.”
The director of the Bureau of Prisons, Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, said in a statement that the agency was taking the allegations very seriously and would respond appropriately. The director of the Bureau of Prisons, Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, said in a statement that the agency was taking the allegations of misconduct “very seriously” and they “will be responded to appropriately.”
Mr. Thomas’s lawyer, Montell Figgins, said his client was being singled out for blame while higher level officials at the Bureau of Prisons were not being held accountable for what he called “fundamental lapses in the organization and management” of the agency. The Bureau of Prisons has completed its own internal audit of whether procedures were followed at the Manhattan jail and the conduct of its staff, but the results are not expected to be publicly released, according to people familiar with the audit.
Mr. Thomas’s lawyer, Montell Figgins, said his client was being singled out for blame while senior officials at the Bureau of Prisons were not being held accountable for what he called “fundamental lapses in the organization and management” of the agency.
“My client feels that there was a rush to judgment in this matter and that he’s being scapegoated,” Mr. Figgins said.“My client feels that there was a rush to judgment in this matter and that he’s being scapegoated,” Mr. Figgins said.
A lawyer for Ms. Noel, Jason E. Foy, could not immediately be reached for comment.A lawyer for Ms. Noel, Jason E. Foy, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Jose Rojas, an official in the prison workers’ union and a teacher at the Coleman prison complex in Sumter County, Fla., said that, although he did not condone falsifying records, the two prison staff members were being scapegoated for Mr. Epstein’s death.Jose Rojas, an official in the prison workers’ union and a teacher at the Coleman prison complex in Sumter County, Fla., said that, although he did not condone falsifying records, the two prison staff members were being scapegoated for Mr. Epstein’s death.
Mr. Rojas said missing rounds and doctoring records were generally treated as a policy violation in the bureau, not as a criminal matter. Mr. Rojas said missing rounds and doctoring records were not generally treated as a criminal matter in the bureau. And, he said, there was blame to go around, pointing to the prison’s failure to assign Mr. Epstein another cellmate the day he died.
And, he said, there was blame to go around.
“There’s culpability at the top,” Mr. Rojas said. “They always try to blame the lowest person on the totem pole.”“There’s culpability at the top,” Mr. Rojas said. “They always try to blame the lowest person on the totem pole.”
Mr. Epstein had pleaded not guilty and was set to go on trial next year. If he had been convicted, he could have faced up to 45 years in prison. The Manhattan jail had been short staffed for quite some time, reflecting a larger shortage of correctional officers in federal facilities across the country. On the night when Mr. Epstein died, Ms. Noel had been scheduled to work a 16-hour double shift. Mr. Thomas had volunteered to work, having already done several tours of overtime that week.
Three weeks before his death, Mr. Epstein was found injured in his cell in what was then investigated as a possible suicide attempt. By the time of his death, Mr. Epstein had been taken off suicide watch but was supposed to have another inmate in his cell. The prison allowed him to be housed alone the day he died, Mr. Rojas said. “Simply assigning blame will not correct the staff shortages that put this chain of events in place,” said Tyrone Covington, president of the local union that represents employees at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Additionally, the Manhattan jail had been short staffed for quite some time. On the night when Mr. Epstein died, both staff members were working overtime. Ms. Noel had been scheduled to work a 16-hour double shift. Mr. Thomas had volunteered to work, having already done several tours of overtime that week. He called the indictment “a mask to cover up the true issues” and said it was meant “to create a narrative that government has taken action.”
“These staff were placed in an assignment where the tools and resources needed to be successful were not available,” said Tyrone Covington, president of the local union that represents employees at the Manhattan Correctional Center. “Simply assigning blame will not correct the staff shortages that put this chain of events in place.” As the indictment was announced in New York, Ms. Sawyer testified in Washington before the Senate Judiciary Committee, telling lawmakers that the agency was trying to identify problem employees and monitoring cameras to make sure staff members were doing their jobs.
He added, “It is clear to us that these indictments are a mask to cover up the true issues and merely be able to create a narrative that government has taken action.” When asked if there was a widespread problem of Bureau of Prisons employees sleeping on the job, she said that there were “a few.”
Katie Benner, Nicole Hong and Ali Watkins contributed reporting. Katie Benner, Nicole Hong, William K. Rashbaum and Ali Watkins contributed reporting.