Yahoo News 'They're being used as scapegoats': Jeffrey Epstein guards charged in connection to sex trafficker's death
The two guards who were on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a New York City jail are facing federal charges after allegedly failing to check on the convicted paedophile every half hour.
The guards were charged on Tuesday, and are expected to appear in United States District Court in Manhattan. The charges are the first to stem from a criminal investigation that has followed after Epstein was found hanging at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Manhattan in August.
Epstein was being kept in the jail while he awaited a trial on sex-trafficking charges. His case had attracted significant attention, especially considering the wealthy and famous individuals whom he had counted as friends in his past including Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, and Bill Clinton.
The federal indictment accuses Tova Noel and Michael Thomas of making false records, and conspiring to defraud the United States for their behaviour on the evening of Epstein's death.
Specifically, the documents claim that Mr Noel and Mr Thomas failed to check on Epstein that night, and instead "sat at their desk, browsed the internet and moved around the common area". Court documents claim they signed forms indicating they had checked on inmates, but had not, according to the New York Times.
"The defendants had a duty to ensure the safety and security of federal inmates in their care at the Metropolitan Correctional Center," said Geoffrey Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, in a statement. "Instead, they repeatedly failed to conduct mandated checks on inmates and lied on official forms to hide their dereliction."
Reports following Epsteins August death indicated that the guards fell asleep for hours while the alleged sex trafficker was under their watch, and that Epstein had been recently removed from suicide watch at the time of his death. Just three weeks before his death, Epstein had been found injured in his cell as a part of a possible suicide attempt.
Jose Rojas, an official with the prison workers' union, told The Independent that he believes that the charges are being used to make the two men scapegoats, and to cover up broader staff shortages at the Bureau of Prisons.
"They are using the two staff as a scapegoat," Mr Rojas said in a text message. "The real picture we have is staff shortages created by same [Department of Justice] that is charging the officers."
Mr Rojas continued to state that the death can be attributed to Epstein being taken off of suicide watch, and that decision "created the mess that caused this crisis by leaving Epstein alone and off suicide."
He also said that the falsification of records is generally not a criminal concern: "It’s a policy violation within the standards of employee conduct. It’s not criminal. They admitted to falling asleep and falsifying. Which is policy violation."
Indeed, investigations after Epstein's death portrayed the staffing situation at the New York jail as short, with overtime being a common occurrence for guards. Both staffers were reportedly working overtime, and one had even volunteered to work. That shortage is reportedly seen in the broader jail system across the US.
