EFTA00014985.pdf

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK INDICTMENT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TOVA NOEL, and MICHAEL THOMAS, Defendants. X The Grand Jury charges: INTRODUCTION 1. On or about August 10, 2019, TOVA NOEL and MICHAEL THOMAS, the defendants, while on duty as correctional officers at the Manhattan Correctional Center ("MCC"), repeatedly chose not to do mandated counts of prisoners under their watch in the MCC's special housing unit ("SHU"). Instead, for substantial portions of their shifts, NOEL and THOMAS sat at their desk, slept, and browsed the internet. To conceal the deliberate dereliction of their responsibilities, NOEL and THOMAS repeatedly signed false certifications attesting to counts of inmates they never did. As a result of those false statements, the MCC believed prisoners in the SHU were being regularly monitored and accounted for when, in fact, as a result of the defendants' conduct, no correctional officer conducted any count or round of the SHU from approximately 10:30 p.m. on August 9 until approximately 6:30 a.m. on August 10, EFTA00014985 at which time, as alleged herein, NOEL and THOMAS discovered the body of an MCC inmate, Jeffrey Epstein, who had committed suicide while unobserved earlier that morning. RELEVANT INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES 2. The MCC is federal administrative detention facility located in Manhattan that is run by the Bureau of Prisons ("BOP"). The MCC is one of several facilities used to house inmates who have been charged with federal crimes in the Southern District of New York, but who are awaiting trial. The MCC employs correctional officers, and their primary duty is to ensure the care, custody, and control of the inmate population of the MCC. 3. TOVA NOEL, the defendant, has been employed as a federal correctional officer at the MCC since approximately 2016. As of August 2019, NOEL's primary assignment was the SHU. On August 9, 2019, NOEL worked a regular shift from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. in the SHU, and then worked an overtime shift from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. on August 10, 2019, also in the SHU. 4. MICHAEL THOMAS, the defendant, has been employed as a correctional officer at the MCC by the BOP since approximately 2007. Beginning in approximately 2013, THOMAS was assigned to work as a materials handler supervisor, which is a non-custodial position, although THOMAS regularly worked overtime shifts as a 2 EFTA00014986 correctional officer. THOMAS worked an overtime shift in the SHU on August 10, 2019, from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. 5. As detailed herein, Jeffrey Epstein was incarcerated at the MCC between his arrest on July 6, 2019, and his suicide on August 10, 2019. Epstein was detained pending trial in the Southern District of New York on sex trafficking charges. THE MCC AND INSTITUTIONAL COUNTS 6. The MCC, which houses approximately 750 inmates at any time, assigns inmates to various housing units within the MCC, including general population and the SHU. The SHU is located on the ninth floor of the MCC and access to the SHU is controlled by a single locked door, which can only be opened remotely by an officer in the MCC's centralized control center (the "Control Center"). Within the SHU, inmates are assigned to six separate tiers, each of which can be accessed only via a single locked door to which the correctional officers assigned to the SHU have keys. Each tier has eight cells, each of which can house either one or two prisoners, and each individual cell - which is made of cement and metal - is accessed only through a single, locked door, to which correctional officers assigned to the SHU have keys. 7. Correctional officers assigned to guard inmates at the MCC are required to conduct institution-wide counts of inmates at regular, scheduled intervals to ensure that each inmate is alive 3 EFTA00014987 and accounted for within the MCC (the "institutional count"). On weekdays, the MCC conducts five institutional counts at 4 p.m., 10 p.m., 12 a.m., 3 a.m., and 5 a.m. Performing an institutional count is one of the most basic and essential aspects of a correctional officer's job, and the count is one of the most basic and essential functions of daily operation of the MCC. Two officers are required to complete the institutional count for each housing unit, including the SHU, and are further required to document their performance of the count on an official MCC form called a count slip. 8. Specifically, on the count slip, both correctional officers are required to fill in the date and time the count was performed, write the total number of inmates physically present in the unit counted, and then each sign the form. The forms are then collected and delivered to the Control Center, where they are compared to the institution's inmate roster to ensure that each inmate is accounted for. Only after all the count slips are collected from each housing unit, and the numbers on the slips are matched to the institution's inmate roster, can the institutional count be deemed "cleared" or completed. Records of each institutional count, including the count slips, are provided to a supervising official and retained by the MCC. 4 EFTA00014988 9. In addition to the institutional count, correctional officers assigned to the SHU are required to complete rounds every thirty minutes ("30-minute rounds"). Like the institutional counts, the 30-minute rounds are conducted to ensure that each inmate is alive and accounted for within their cell. Correctional officers working in the SHU are required to complete a form, which is reviewed and signed by their supervisor, documenting the date and time of each 30-minute round in each tier of the SHU. EPSTEIN'S PRIOR APPARENT SUICIDE ATTEMPT 10. On July 6, 2019, inmate Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and detained at the MCC on sex trafficking charges. On July 10, 2019, Epstein was assigned to the SHU due to, among other things, risk factors for suicidality and safety concerns. 11. On July 23, 2019, while housed in the SHU, MCC officers responded to an emergency call, and found Epstein on the floor of his cell with a strip of bedsheet around his neck. MICHAEL THOMAS, the defendant, was one of the MCC officers who responded to the incident. Although Epstein claimed that he did not recall how the sheet ended up around his neck, Epstein was subsequently transferred out of SHU to suicide watch. Inmates assigned to suicide watch are housed in a cell on the hospital wing floor, and 5 EFTA00014989 are watched twenty-four hours a day by a staff member or a specially trained inmate companion. 12. Epstein remained on suicide watch for approximately twenty-four hours, and then was transferred to psychological observation, until July 30, 2019. Psychological observation is less restrictive than suicide watch, but inmates are still housed in the hospital wing and watched twenty-four hours a day. 13. On July 30, 2019, Epstein was transferred back to the SHU, and, at the direction of MCC's psychological staff, was assigned a cellmate, in order to ensure Epstein remained under the observation of another inmate at all times. Epstein was also assigned to the cell closest to the correctional officers' desk in the common area of the SHU, which was approximately fifteen feet from the cell. Correctional officers assigned to the SHU were also told to keep a close watch of Epstein in light of his prior apparent suicide attempt. EVENTS OF AUGUST 9-10, 2019 14. On August 9, 2019, Epstein's cellmate was transferred out of the MCC at approximately 8:00 a.m. Despite the directions described above that Epstein have a cellmate, no new cellmate was assigned to Epstein's cell. 15. TOVA NOEL, the defendant, was one of the assigned officers duty in the SHU from 4:00 p.m. on August 9, 2019 to 8 6 EFTA00014990