Jeffrey Epstein's guards could face charges this week, source says
Charges are expected to be filed this week — likely as soon as Tuesday — against two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein the night he took his own life, a person familiar with the matter told CBS News. The charges are likely to include falsifying prison records.
Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges involving teenage girls. The medical examiner's office ruled his death a suicide by hanging on August 16, but the death raised questions about how he could have died on the correctional center's watch.
CBS News reported Friday that the two officers were offered the opportunity to plead guilty by federal prosecutors, but that they declined the offer.
Epstein, who had been charged with sexually abusing a number of underage girls, was put on suicide watch the month before he died after he was found with bruising on his neck. But multiple sources said that Epstein had been taken off suicide watch after about a week, and placed into a high-security housing unit where he was supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.
Both the FBI and the Justice Department's inspector general are investigating his death.