Officials reportedly said a prison guard in the unit where Jeffrey Epstein was being held searched his name on Google minutes before he was found dead.
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) documents showed the guard also made a $5,000 deposit just over a week before his death, the New York Post reported on Saturday, identifying the guard as Tova Noel.
In August 2019 Epstein, a convicted pedophile, was found dead inside his Manhattan jail cell where reports said he hanged himself.
Noel and another guard were accused of falsifying records to make it appear as though they had checked on Epstein during the night hours. Both guards lost their jobs, but the charges were eventually dropped.
“The [guards] had a duty to ensure the safety and security of federal inmates in their care,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in 2019. “Instead, they repeatedly failed to conduct mandated checks on inmates, and lied on official forms to hide their dereliction.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records said Noel searched “latest on Epstein in jail” twice minutes before correctional officer Michael Thomas found Epstein’s body. She had earlier shopped online and allegedly napped instead of checking on the inmate every 30 minutes, while Thomas also perused the internet.
Noel later denied searching Epstein on Google, saying she did not remember doing so and also claiming the FBI records were not accurate, the Post article continued:
Meanwhile, Chase Bank flagged cash deposits in Noel’s bank account in a “suspicious activity report” to the FBI in November 2019, another file from the DOJ revealed.
A total of 12 deposits began in April 2018, the bank said, and culminated in the largest deposit, for $5,000, on July 30, 2019, the records showed.
Epstein’s lifeless body was found on August 19, 2019.
An inmate housed at the jail reportedly told the FBI he overheard guards discussing covering up Epstein’s death when his body was found, according to the Miami Herald.
The FBI reportedly interviewed the inmate, who recalled what allegedly happened on August 10, 2019, inside the Special Housing Unit (SHU), per the Herald:
“Breathe! Breathe!” he recalled officers shouting about 6:30 a.m. Then he said he heard an officer say “Dudes, you killed that dude.” A female guard replied “If he is dead, we’re going to cover it up and he’s going to have an alibi — my officers,” the FBI notes said. The inmate claimed the whole wing overheard the exchange. Later, after learning Epstein had died, he said inmates said “Miss Noel killed Jeffrey.”
Epstein’s cell was situated approximately 15 feet from the guards’ desks.
