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Jeffrey Epstein jail guards suspected of falsifying logs

Posted at 2:45 PM, Aug 13, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-13 23:23:12-04

UPDATE: A person familiar with the probe of Jeffrey Epstein's death at a federal jail says guards are suspected of falsifying log entries to show they were checking on inmates in his unit every half hour, when they actually weren't.

EARLIER STORY:

Epstein is believed to have killed himself early Saturday at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he was awaiting trial in a sex trafficking case.

Surveillance video reviewed after the death showed guards never made some of the checks noted in the log, according to the person familiar with the investigation.

The person wasn't authorized to disclose information and spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

The Justice Department said earlier Tuesday that two guards assigned to watch Epstein had been placed on administrative leave.

The Justice Department says two guards assigned to watch Jeffrey Epstein when he killed himself in jail have been placed on administrative leave.

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The department says in a statement Tuesday that the warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center has also been temporarily reassigned to an office post pending the outcome of two investigations.

Both the FBI and the Justice Department's inspector general are investigating Epstein's death.

Attorney General William Barr has expressed outrage that Epstein was able to take his own life Saturday while under the care of the federal Bureau of Prisons while the inmate was facing sex trafficking charges.

The Justice Department says the warden of another facility in upstate New York has been named the acting warden at MCC. The Department says it will take additional personnel action as warranted.