Two prison guards who admitted to “wilfully and knowingly” lying on official forms have had their cases dropped.
US prosecutors ended the criminal case against the two Manhattan prison guards tasked with guarding convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein on the night of his suicide and who admitted to falsifying records.
Federal prosecutors Thursday asked a judge to dismiss charges against Tova Noel and Michael Thomas in Manhattan following their six-month deferred prosecution deal reached in May that kept the two jailers out of jail, the New York Post reported.
They instead each agreed to complete 100 hours of community service and to co-operate with federal investigators’ probe into Epstein’s death.
Noel and Thomas, who were working overtime shifts, allegedly sat just five yards from Epstein’s cell, but shopped online and took breaks instead of checking his cell every 30 minutes as required.
The guards admitted that they “wilfully and knowingly” lied on forms stating that they’d made the required rounds checking on inmates the night of Epstein’s 2019 suicide.
Epstein, who had been on suicide watch for a month, was found hanging in his cell awaiting his sex trafficking trial on Aug. 10, 2019. The high-profile death was officially ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner.
Thomas’ lawyer Montell Figgins said his client is pleased with the dismissal and is happy to put the incident behind him.
Epstein’s longtime partner-in-crime Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted Wednesday evening of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein for years.
She was convicted on nearly all counts, including sex trafficking of minors, the top charge that carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, possibly condemning the heiress to life in prison.
Maxwell is expected to appeal the verdict.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Federal prosecutors end criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein’s prison guards
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