Tova Noel was one of the two correctional officers assigned to the Special Housing Unit at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on the overnight shift when Jeffrey Epstein died on August 10, 2019. According to the Justice Department inspector general, Noel and fellow officer Michael Thomas failed to perform required inmate rounds for hours and later signed records falsely indicating that the checks had been completed. Epstein was left alone in his cell from roughly 10:40 p.m. until he was discovered at about 6:30 a.m. Noel said that when Thomas entered Epstein’s cell that morning, she remained near the doorway while Thomas pulled Epstein down and began CPR; she then activated the emergency alarm. The responding lieutenant later told investigators that Noel acknowledged they had missed the 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. rounds. Noel and Thomas were criminally charged with falsifying records, although both eventually received deferred prosecution agreements and the charges were dismissed after they fulfilled the terms. The inspector general found serious misconduct and negligence but said it uncovered no evidence contradicting the FBI’s determination that Epstein’s death was a suicide.
Noel nevertheless strongly denied having anything to do with Epstein’s death beyond the admitted failures to perform her duties. During her 2026 congressional interview, she denied ever receiving money from Epstein or anyone associated with him and said a questioned $5,000 cash deposit shortly before his death came from her own personal savings. She also rejected suggestions that she was the unidentified “flash of orange” captured on surveillance footage near the stairs leading toward Epstein’s tier at about 10:39 p.m., telling investigators she had not returned to the tier after completing what she described as the 10 p.m. count and insisting she did not know what the image represented. Noel said she had no reason to believe Epstein died by anything other than suicide because, in her view, no one else had been inside his cell. Her testimony therefore drew a sharp distinction between negligence—which she acknowledged in significant respects—and any suggestion that she participated in, facilitated or had advance knowledge of Epstein’s death, allegations she repeatedly denied.
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör
Bobby Capucci. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Bobby Capucci och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
