Two bumbling prison guards snoozed and surfed the internet just 15 feet from the cell where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself — failing to check on the rich-and-connected pedophile all night as he hanged himself with a bedsheet, the feds alleged Tuesday.
Tova Noel, 31, and Michael Thomas, 41, are accused of failing to check on Epstein and other inmates every 30 minutes, as required, and of falsifying reports in which the guards claimed they had conducted crucial prisoner counts in the “Special Housing Unit” of the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan.
The guards allegedly confessed their negligence to a supervisor who responded to an alarm triggered by their discovery of Epstein’s body when they brought him breakfast at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 10.
“Noel told [the supervisor] ‘we did not complete the 3 a.m. nor 5 a.m. rounds,’” the feds’ 19-page indictment alleges. “Thomas stated, ‘we messed up,’ and ‘I messed up, she’s not to blame, we didn’t do any rounds.’”
Epstein was arrested July 6 on child sex-trafficking charges and was being held without bail on the order of a judge who said the notorious perv’s sexual urges appeared “uncontrollable.”
Following an apparent attempt to hang himself on July 23, Epstein was placed on suicide watch in the prison’s hospital wing for about 24 hours, then kept under “psychological observation” there until July 30, the indictment says.
The multimillionaire financier was then returned to the SHU and placed in the cell that’s closest to the guards’ desk in the common area.
On Aug. 9, Noel and another, unidentified officer put Epstein in his cell at 7:49 p.m. following an attorney visit, court papers say.
A directive from the MCC’s psychological staff said he was supposed to have a cellmate, but that inmate was transferred out of the prison earlier in the day.
By 10 p.m., “all inmates in the MCC were locked in their cells for the night” — and while Noel and another, unidentified guard were supposed to conduct an inmate count at that time, surveillance video shows they didn’t do it, according to the indictment.
At 10: 30 p.m., video allegedly shows Noel “briefly walked up to, then walked back from, the door to the tier in which Epstein was housed.”
“As confirmed by the video obtained from the MCC’s internal video system, this was the last time anyone, including any correctional officer, walked up to, let alone entered, the only entrance to the tier” until Epstein was found hanging eight hours later, the indictment says.
Noel, who began working a double shift at 4 p.m., and Thomas, who began working an overtime shift at midnight, were allegedly caught on surveillance video seated at their desk for about two hours “without moving,” with court papers saying they “appeared to have been asleep.”
“Noel used the computer periodically throughout the night, including to search the internet for furniture sales and benefit websites,” the indictment says.
“Thomas used the computer briefly around 1 a.m., 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. to search for motorcycle sales and sports news.”
Two other, unidentified guards who were assigned to the SHU in the hours leading to midnight also falsified prisoner-count reports, but neither was charged Tuesday.
The Manhattan US Attorney’s Office declined to say why.
Noel and Thomas are both charged with conspiracy and multiple counts of filing false reports.
Noel is accused of falsifying reports for five prisoner counts at 4 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight on Aug. 9, and at 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Aug. 10. Thomas is accused of falsifying reports for midnight, 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, meaning that Noel, who began working at the MCC in 2016, faces 30 years while Thomas, who’s worked there since 2007, faces 20 years.
They both pleaded “not guilty” in loud, clear voices during their Tuesday afternoon arraignments before a courtroom gallery packed with supporters.
They were released on $100,000 bond each after being ordered to surrender their passports, and Noel was also told she’d have to turn over an unspecified personal firearm.
Defense lawyer Jason Foy argued that she should be allowed to keep the weapon because she’s not charged with any crimes of violence, adding, “I’m not suggesting that there’s been any other specific threat, other than that the world’s crazy.”
But Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn rejected the request, saying she needed to ensure the safety of any Pretrial Services officers who visit Noel’s home.
“As you said yourself, the world’s crazy,” Netburn said.
Netburn also ordered Thomas to refrain from “excessive use of alcohol,” but it was unclear why.
Prosecutor Nicholas Roos said both guards surrendered to the FBI at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
The accommodation marked a stark departure for the treatment of most federal defendants, who typically get busted without warning at their homes at 6 a.m.
Outside court, Thomas’s defense lawyer said the guard was being wrongly blamed for Epstein’s death.
“We had hoped that the US Attorney’s Office would make an effort to try to address the systemic failures with respect to the Bureau of Prisons. Instead, they chose to indict Mr. Thomas,” lawyer Montell Figgins said.
Figgins also described Thomas as the “single father” of three children, saying, “This case is going to ruin his life.”
The super at the building where Noel lives in The Bronx described her as an immigrant from Barbados who paid about $1,000 a month for her one-bedroom, second-floor apartment.
“She’s been living here by herself for the past seven or eight years, but every so often someone from her home country — a relative or a friend — comes and stays with her,” Javier Aguirre added.
A woman who was seen entering Noel’s apartment wouldn’t answer the door when The Post knocked.
She and Thomas are due back in court on Monday.
The news came as federal Bureau of Prisons Director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she believed the FBI was investigating whether Epstein’s death was tied to a “criminal enterprise” operating in the MCC.
Asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham whether the FBI was looking into “a criminal enterprise,” she responded, “If the FBI is involved, then they are looking at criminal enterprise, yes.”
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan