DISGRACED financier Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide while being detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on August 10, 2019.
At the time of his imprisonment, Epstein was facing federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.
Who are Jeffrey Epstein's prison guards Tova Noel and Michael Thomas?
Corrections officers Tova Noel and Michael Thomas were tasked with guarding Epstein in the MCC the night of his death.
Noel and Thomas were accused of falling sleeping and browsing the internet instead of monitoring Epstein.
Prosecutors alleged that Noel and Thomas sat at their desks just 15 feet from Epstein’s cell, shopped online for furniture and motorcycles, and walked around the unit’s common area instead of making required rounds every 30 minutes.
During one two-hour period, both appeared to have been asleep, according to the indictment filed against them.
Both officers who were guarding Epstein were working overtime because of staffing shortages.
One of the guards, who did not primarily work as a correctional officer, was working a fifth straight day of overtime.
The other guard was working mandatory overtime, meaning a second eight-hour shift of the day.
Both Noel and Thomas were charged with lying on prison records to make it seem as though they had made required checks on the financier before he was found in his cell.
Did Noel and Thomas reach a peal deal with federal prosecutors?
On Friday, May 21, Noel and Thomas agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Noel and Thomas will enter a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice.
The two will avoid jail time, and will be subjected to supervised release, and are required to complete 100 community service hours.
They must also fully cooperate with the Justice Department's probe into Epstein's death.
Records indicate the two "admitted that they willfully and knowingly completed materially false count and round slips regarding required counts and rounds" where Epstein was held.
A judge still needs to sign off on their deal, which could come as early as next week.
What was Jeffrey Epstein's official cause of death?
The New York City Medical Examiner's Office ruled Epstein's death a suicide by hanging.
The medical examiner's office said it stands "firmly" behind its finding of suicide by hanging, arguing that fractures of the hyoid bone and cartilage can be seen in both suicides and homicides.
However, questions surrounding Epstein's mysterious death lingers.
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