‘I never touched the man’: Jeffrey Epstein’s former cop cellmate pens jailhouse letter swearing he had nothing to do with the pedophile’s death
- Nick Tartaglione, 51, is accused of murdering four people in April 2016 in upstate New York
- He shared a cell with Jeffrey Epstein until July 23, known as the pedophile’s first suicide attempt, when he was found with injuries on his neck
- They were separated and Epstein was alone in the cell he was found dead in on August 10
- Tartaglione has been questioned about his interaction with Epstein before he was moved but insists he has done nothing wrong
- He wrote to the New York Daily News on Friday to protest his innocence
The former cop turned alleged killer who shared a cell with Jeffrey Epstein has penned a letter from prison jail insisting he had nothing to do with the pedophile’s murder.
Nick Tartaglione, 51, briefly shared a cell with Epstein at the Manhattan Correctional Center and has been cleared of wrongdoing in the disgraced financier’s initial suicide attempt and death in August.
Officials are still investigating how Epstein was able to kill himself and why he wasn’t on suicide watch.
Tartaglione wrote to the New York Daily News to insist that while he thought poorly of him, he never ‘touched’ him.
Nicholas Tartaglione, 51, briefly shared a cell with Epstein and says he ‘never touched him’ during their time together
He was not sharing a cell with Epstein when he died; the pair had lived together briefly until July 23, when Epstein was found with injuries on his neck in an apparent suicide attempt.
They were separated then and the pedophile slept alone in a multi-person cell until his death on August 10.
The official cause of death remains unknown.
In his letter, Tartaglione said that he never harmed him.
‘As far as Jeff Epstein is concerned, I never touched the man. I despise anyone who hurts children but whatever was going to happen to him, I was not going to be a part of it.
‘The prison told Epstein they were putting him in a cell with me because they knew I would neither hurt nor extort him
‘The staff here at MCC had hundreds of inmates to choose from yet I was their first choice,’ he said.
He is in jail for allegedly killing four people in a drug deal gone wrong in Otisville, a town in upstate New York. Prosecutors say some of the victims had ties to the cartel.
He is yet to be given a trial date and wants to moved out of the jail in Manhattan give the growing scrutiny and tension surrounding Epstein’s death.
‘I still have some faith in the justice system.
‘Every person in this country has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
‘To anyone who reads this I only ask for that presumption because I haven’t felt it yet in the past 33 months,’ he said.
He earlier claimed that he had been threatened by staff at the jail who he said told him to ‘shut up’ and ‘stop talking’ about the case.
His attorney said that he was in fear of his life and deserved to be transferred.
‘It just doesn’t seem appropriate that he be housed and guarded by the very people who are under investigation given his proximity to the investigation.
Epstein died at the Manhattan Correctional Center on August 10
‘My client shouldn’t have to fear for his life,’ his attorney Bruce Barket said.
Tartaglione has been in custody since December 2016. He is accused of killing Martin Luna, 41, Hector Santiago, 32, Miguel Luna, 25, and Hector Gutierrez, 43, in April 2016 on his farm.
Lawyers for the financier say they’re dissatisfied with the medical examiner’s conclusions and plan to view prison videos themselves from a facility operating under ‘medieval conditions.’
Three lawyers issued a joint statement after a medical examiner announced Friday that an autopsy and other evidence confirms the 66-year-old registered sex offender hanged himself.
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