Guards who shopped online while Jeffrey Epstein killed himself given 100 hours COMMUNITY SERVICE
US prosecutors have ended the criminal case against two Manhattan prison guards who had been tasked with guarding convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on the night he died by suicide. The guards even admitted to falsifying records. In 2019, Epstein died in an apparent suicide while he was in federal custody. The 66-year-old was facing up to 45 years in prison on charges of sex-trafficking several teenage girls.
On Thursday, December 30, federal prosecutors urged a judge to dismiss charges against Tova Noel and Michael Thomas in Manhattan. This development in the case comes after their six-month deferred prosecution deal kept them out of jail. Instead, they agreed to cooperate with federal investigators’ probe into Epstein’s death, to complete 100 hours of community service.
READ MORE
Who are Ghislaine Maxwell's siblings? Family claims sex trafficker 'will be vindicated'
BBC slammed for picking Alan Dershowitz as 'expert' to analyze Ghislaine Maxwell verdict
Noel and Thomas reportedly sat just five yards from Epstein’s cell on the night of his apparent suicide. The two were working overtime shifts. However, instead of keeping an eye out, they shopped online and took breaks. The guards later admitted that they “willfully and knowingly” lied on forms, claiming that they did make the rounds checking on the inmates on the night of the suicide in 2019.
After a lengthy trial that began on November 29, 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted on Wednesday, December 29, of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein for several years. Maxwell, who turned 60 behind the bars on November 25, sat as the verdict was read, after which she poured herself a cup of water, drank it and conferred with her lawyer. She showed no emotions as she was taken out of the federal court in Lower Manhattan. A date for sentencing is yet to be set.
During the trial, Maxwell's lawyers claimed that the socialite was only an innocent scapegoat in the Epstein saga. Prosecutors, on the other hand, argued that she was a “sophisticated predator” who exploited innocent young girls. Maxwell was convicted of almost all counts, with the top charge being sex-trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum of 40 years in prison.
The other counts Maxwell was found guilty of are conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts; conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. While both the first and second counts carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the third carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and the fourth carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison. She was acquitted of Count 2, which involved enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.