EFTA00017912

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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE Southern District of New York U.S. ATTORNEY GEOFFREY S. BERMAN FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, November 19, 2019 http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE DOJ OIG FBI CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS CHARGED WITH FALSIFYING RECORDS ON AUGUST 9-10 AT THE METROPOLITAN CORRECTIONAL CENTER Defendants Allegedly Created Records Falsely Attesting to Required Checks of Inmates the Defendants Never Did in the Special Housing Unit on the Night Inmate Jeffrey Epstein Committed Suicide Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael Horowitz, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") Inspector General, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging federal correctional officers TOVA NOEL and MICHAEL THOMAS with making false records and conspiring to make false records and to defraud the United States by impairing the lawful functions of the Metropolitan Correctional Center ("MCC"), a Manhattan detention facility that houses federal inmates. NOEL and THOMAS surrendered this morning. The case is assigned to Southern District of New York U.S. District Judge U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: "As alleged, the defendants had a duty to ensure the safety and security of federal inmates in their care at the Metropolitan Correctional Cen