Overview
- Surveillance footage from DOJ records shows officers Tova Noel and Michael Thomas lingering at the SHU officer station around 3:15 a.m. instead of performing required rounds near Epstein’s first cell on the tier.
- Bright-orange notices at the station instructed 30‑minute checks on Epstein and a constant bunkmate, according to DOJ materials and Lt. Roberto Grijalva’s interview.
- The DOJ places Epstein’s death by suicide between 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 9 and 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 10, when the guards discovered his body during breakfast rounds.
- Noel and Thomas were accused of falsifying logs showing overnight checks; both were fired, and criminal charges were dropped in 2021 by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.
- The House Oversight Committee scheduled Noel for a transcribed interview on March 26 after reports of her pre‑dawn Epstein internet search and flagged cash deposits surfaced in DOJ releases.