(NEW YORK) — Members of the House Oversight Committee on Monday are set to interview a former prison guard who was on duty at the Metropolitan Corrections Center in New York when convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019.
The interview of Tova Noel — believed to be the last person to have seen Epstein before his death — comes amid renewed scrutiny of Epstein’s death.
Epstein died by suicide according to an autopsy conducted by the New York medical examiner, though a series of missteps by prison officials have long fueled conspiracy theories about his death.
Noel is alleged to have spent the hours ahead of Epstein’s death scrolling the internet, rather than performing the required headcounts of the prisoners in the unit where the disgraced sex offender was housed. Prosecutors in 2019 charged Noel and another prison guard with falsifying records to make it seem as if they did the required checks, and both ended up reaching a deal with prosecutors to have the charges dropped.
The recent release of the Epstein files by the Department of Justice has brought renewed attention to Noel’s actions, and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said she was called to testify because some lawmakers “aren’t confident 100% that Epstein’s death was by suicide.”
“No one’s accusing her of any wrongdoing, but we have a lot of questions about Epstein,” Comer told Fox News in March.
Lawmakers have highlighted that Noel received a series of cash deposits between April 2018 and July 2019 totaling $12,000 — with most taking place before Epstein was arrested — and that the last deposit was made prior to Epstein’s death. Documents released by the DOJ also show that Noel made a series of internet searches about Epstein the night he died, including “latest on Epstein in jail.”
While those documents have attracted public attention, investigators appear to have already probed those matters. Grand jury transcripts released from the case against Noel released by the DOJ earlier this year showed that the FBI examined her bank records and found no evidence of a bribe.
She also told the DOJ inspector general that she did not remember searching the internet for Epstein, but may have read an article about Epstein.
Surveillance video from the jail also showed a flash of orange appearing near Epstein’s cell the night he died, and a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general concluded the video showed a corrections officer “believed to be Noel” carrying linen to the area near Epstein’s cell.
In a sworn interview in 2021, Noel claimed she “never gave out linen,” and denied providing Epstein with excess linen that may have been used to form a noose.
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