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Epstein's Jail Guards, Who Were Supposed To Be Checking On Him, May Have Been Sleeping Before His Death
Details about what led up to the sexual predator's apparent suicide continue to emerge.
As details trickle in about disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s puzzling death, it’s been reported that the two jail guards that were supposed to be watching may have been sleeping when he died.
Epstein, 66, who died by apparent suicide Saturday morning, was reportedly found in his Manhattan jail cell with a makeshift noose fashioned out of a bedsheet around his neck.
It turns out that the guards tasked with watching him at that time, may have sleeping instead, two unnamed officials told NBC News. As a result of Epstein’s death, the warden of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan has been temporarily reassigned and two guards have been placed on leave.
The guards were supposed to check on Epstein every 30 minutes, according to those two sources. However, Epstein was allegedly not checked on for hours. In addition, one of those guards didn’t normally work as a correction officer, according to the New York Post.
Epstein wasn't on suicide watch at the time of his death, sources told NBC News, despite his prior suicide attempt. He also supposed to have a cellmate but that cellmate had been removed from the cell prior to Epstein’s death.
The incident is still under review. The FBI and Justice Department are said to be investigating the death after Attorney General William Barr said he was appalled that Epstein was left alone to apparently hang himself.
The financier was accused of manipulating girls, some as young as just 14, into committing sex acts for years at both his Manhattan and Palm Beach homes.
He had pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges, and had been jailed since his July 6 arrest.
He previously pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute and of procuring an underage girl for prostitution in 2008 in Florida. It was given a controversial plea deal to reduced charges despite investigators identifying more than 30 girls who claimed he sexually abused them, according to the Miami Herald.
Although some of his victims have expressed outrage that he won't answer for his crimes, a criminal case against his estate and potential co-conspirators may still go forward.
