Jeffrey Epstein Prison Guards Admit They Filed False Records

Two prison guards assigned to keep watch on Jeffrey Epstein the night he died in his jail cell have admitted they falsified records.

The Associated Press reports that the two Bureau of Prisons workers, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, will not face time behind bars despite allegations they slept and browsed the internet instead of keeping an eye on Epstein. The disgraced financier and convicted sex offender was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019, and while the medical examiner ruled it a suicide, his death continues to be disputed over 20 months later.

Guards Noel and Thomas were both charged with lying in prison records that said they were making the mandated checks on Epstein before he was found dead, but they won’t get jail time due to their admissions. Instead, authorities revealed on Friday they will be given supervised release, 100 hours of community service, and must cooperate with the Justice Department’s inspector general’s probe.

Court papers indicate the two have “admitted that they ‘willfully and knowingly completed materially false count and round slips regarding required counts and rounds'" where Epstein was held. It is alleged they were online shopping instead of focusing on guarding Epstein. The indictment against them claims they had both fallen asleep during their shifts, too, although it has also been noted one of the guards was working their second eight-hour shift of the day. Republican Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Ben Sasse was critical of the verdict, as he has been with the handling of Epstein’s case in general.

“One hundred hours of community service is a joke — this isn’t traffic court,” Sasse said. “The leader of an international child sex trafficking ring escaped justice, his co-conspirators had their secrets go to the grave with him, and these guards are going to be picking up trash on the side of the road.”