Correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey charged with falsifying records

The indictment charged two correctional officers, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas  with making false records and conspiring to defraud the United States. 

A grand jury indictment made public Tuesday accused the guards  of neglecting their duties by failing to perform checks on Epstein every half hour, as required, and of falsifying log entries .

The charges against the officers are the first in connection with the Mr. Epstein's death in August at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.

The city’s medical examiner ruled Jeffrey Epstein death a suicide.

Attorney General William Barr has said investigators found “serious irregularities” at the jail and the FBI’s investigation had been slowed because some witnesses were uncooperative.

He had been placed on suicide watch after he was found July 23 on the floor of his cell with a bruised neck. Multiple people familiar with operations at the jail say Epstein was taken off the watch after about a week, meaning he was less closely monitored but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

Investigators believe those checks were not done for several hours before Epstein was sighted in his cell with a bedsheet around his neck.