The two prison guards tasked with keeping watch over accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on the night he committed suicide inside his New York City jail cell are expected to be charged falsifying prison records, a person familiar with the investigation told The Daily Beast. The criminal charges against the two unnamed guards could come as early as Tuesday, the person said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment. The pending charges, first reported by the Washington Post, are the first by federal investigators who have been probing how mysterious financier was allowed to take his own life on the morning of Aug. 10 death inside heavily guarded jail cell inside New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.
According to multiple reports, the guards allegedly did not check on Epstein every 30 minutes like they were supposed to, and are accused of falsifying prison records to make it seem like they had. The New York City medical examiner concluded that Epstein died of suicide by hanging. The guards were reportedly offered a plea deal, but declined to take it. Epstein was arrested on July 6 and was awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex-trafficking.
