Tova Noel, a former prison guard at the correctional facility where convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found dead, is scheduled to testify Monday in a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee.
Noel is one of two prison guards who were working on Aug. 9, 2019, the night before the financier was found dead in his cell. She previously told federal investigators that she believes she was the last person to have seen Epstein alive. New York City’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide in her autopsy report, but developments since — including reports of missteps by prison officials that night and a later-clarified discrepancy in security footage from outside Epstein’s prison cell — have fueled conspiracy theories and speculation about his death.
The testimony is part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into the federal government’s handling of cases involving Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
A number of powerful figures from across the political spectrum and in finance, entertainment and beyond, have emerged in documents, pictures and emails from the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice. Inclusion in the files does not necessarily indicate wrongdoing, but the fallout has led to resignations and calls for more accountability.
Other notable figures who have provided testimony to the committee include former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, billionaire Les Wexner and Ted Waitt, Maxwell’s ex-boyfriend.
Who is Tova Noel?
Noel is a former correctional officer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Prior to her time at the prison, she served as a patient administrative specialist at a hospital in the U.S. Army. Noel was honorably discharged in 2014.
Noel received a bachelor’s degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2017. She started working for the federal Bureau of Prisons the following year.
Why does the committee want to talk to Noel?
In 2019, Tova Noel appeared in federal court in New York City on charges she falsely certified to having conducted inmate counts during Jeffrey Epstein’s final hours. Illustration by Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Noel has already testified for the Department of Justice inspector general’s office. In that 2021 testimony, she said she was likely the last person to see Epstein alive in his cell at or past 10 p.m.
Noel told investigators she was there when Epstein’s body was found around 6:30 a.m. the next day, and saw the other officer on duty, Michael Thomas, perform CPR. She testified that she didn’t hear anything from Epstein’s cell between 10:30 p.m. and when he was found unresponsive by another guard during breakfast checks.
Federal investigators charged Noel and Thomas in 2019 with falsifying records by indicating on prison log entries that they had completed check-ins of prisoners the night Epstein died when neither had done so. Epstein was in the MCC’s Special Housing Unit, where prisoner checks are required every 30 minutes. Investigators said no checks on prisoners were done overnight; Noel countered in her 2021 deposition that she recalled completing a majority of checks during her shift, adding that guards typically did checks while doing routine tasks like restocking toilet paper, picking up trays and giving food.
Both were accused of sleeping and surfing the web in the hours before Epstein’s body was found. Noel and Thomas were later spared jail time after agreeing to a plea deal with federal prosecutors that involved hours of community service and their cooperation with the ongoing probe into Epstein’s death.
In her testimony, Noel denied that she fell asleep that night. Noel said she did use the internet, though she didn’t know if she was authorized to do so.
What has Noel said about her connections to Epstein?
Noel told investigators during her deposition she only had one interaction with Epstein, which occurred earlier on Aug. 9. She recalled telling him he needed to wait to leave a shower cell where he had been allowed to make a phone call until other prisoners had left. She described that interaction as “regular” and didn’t think it was out of the ordinary.
Noel also said during a count around 10 p.m., Epstein asked her to plug in his CPAP machine, a common treatment for sleep apnea. She said she nodded and plugged it in. She noted other prisoners “are not supposed to have” CPAP machines because of their long cords, but there were “exceptions being made for Epstein because it’s Epstein.”
When investigators asked whether anyone had discussed whether she needed to pay closer attention to Epstein, a high-profile person in the news, Noel said no.
