MCC Guards Indictment — Tova Noel & Michael Thomas Charged with Falsifying Records

Overview

On November 19, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, two correctional officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan, in connection with their failure to monitor Jeffrey Epstein on the night of his death, August 10, 2019.

The officers were charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false records — specifically, falsifying logs to indicate they had performed required wellness checks when they had not.

The Charges

According to the DOJ press release and court filings:

Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

The officers were charged with conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing the lawful functions of the Bureau of Prisons. Specifically, the indictment alleged they:

Failed to perform the 30-minute wellness checks required by MCC protocols
Neglected their duty to monitor the Special Housing Unit where Epstein was held
Agreed to conceal their failures through false documentation

Making False Records

The officers were charged with making materially false entries in official documents:

They signed logs certifying they had conducted the required checks
The entries indicated wellness checks at specific times when no checks occurred
The falsified records were official Bureau of Prisons documents
The false entries covered a period of approximately eight hours during which no checks were performed

What Happened That Night

According to court filings and the DOJ Inspector General investigation:

Noel and Thomas were the only officers assigned to the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where Epstein was held
They were required to conduct wellness checks every 30 minutes
Instead of performing checks, they sat at their desks, slept, and browsed the internet
No checks were performed from approximately 10:30 PM on August 9 to approximately 6:30 AM on August 10
When a check was finally performed in the morning, Epstein was found unresponsive

The Deferred Prosecution Agreement

The case was ultimately resolved through a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) rather than trial. Under the agreement:

The officers agreed to 100 hours of community service each
They agreed to cooperate fully with any ongoing investigations related to Epstein
They were required to complete their obligations within a specified period
If they fulfilled the agreement's terms, the charges would be dismissed
If they violated the agreement, prosecution could proceed

Reaction

The DPA was controversial:

Criticism

Victims' advocates described the agreement as too lenient given the severity of the consequences
Some legal commentators noted that the DPA essentially resulted in no jail time for officers whose failures preceded the death of a high-profile detainee
The case highlighted the broader issue of accountability for institutional failures in federal detention

Context

Supporters of the DPA noted that the officers' failures, while egregious, occurred in the context of chronic understaffing and mandatory overtime
The officers' cooperation with investigators was described as valuable to ongoing inquiries
DPAs are a recognized tool for resolving federal cases where cooperation is more valuable than incarceration

Broader Implications

The guards' case established several important facts about the night of Epstein's death:

No checks were performed for approximately eight hours
Records were falsified to conceal this failure
Institutional conditions (chronic understaffing, mandatory overtime) contributed to the failures
Surveillance gaps prevented visual documentation of events during the unmonitored period

The case did not resolve questions about the circumstances of Epstein's death itself — it addressed only the guards' dereliction of duty and record falsification.

MCC Guards Indictment: Falsifying Records (November 2020)