AG Barr Personally Questioned Jeffrey Epstein’s Cellmate After His Death
Barr personally questioned Stone’ Reyes about the staff
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Then-Attorney General William Barr personally questioned child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's cellmate following his death in 2019, according to reports.
Epstein was found hanging from a cloth in his cell on August 10, 2019.
The New York Daily News reported:
“Investigators’ attention turned to Efrain ‘Stone’ Reyes, who had been transferred out of a cell he shared with Epstein the day before the shocking suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan."
“Reyes’ niece and other sources previously told the Daily News that Reyes was moved to the privately run Queens Detention Facility, which holds cooperating witnesses.”
According to sources, Reyes was repeatedly interviewed by authorities, and Barr personally questioned him about the staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
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“[Reyes] said [Barr] was a good guy,” the source told the newspaper.
“Barr was nice about it. [Barr] just wanted to know if [inmates] were being mistreated. What [Reyes] believed happened. Just basically that. [Reyes] told them everything. He cooperated with Barr.”
“Two Metropolitan Correctional Center officers, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas have pleaded not guilty to sleeping on the job and falsifying records the night of the suicide,” the newspaper added.
“The source contacted [The New York Daily News] seeking to dispel conspiracy theories that Reyes’ death had something to do with Epstein. The source said Reyes was deeply troubled by the suicide and did not hesitate to help investigators.”
The New York Times reported in 2019:
Barr said Epstein's death resulted from “a perfect storm of screw-ups,” rather than any nefarious act.
Mr. Barr’s statement refuted suggestions from members of Mr. Epstein’s family that he may have been murdered.
“I can understand people who immediately — whose minds went to sort of the worst-case scenario, because it was a perfect storm of screw-ups,” Mr. Barr said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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“I think it was important to have a roommate in there with him, and we’re looking into why that wasn’t done, and I think every indication is that was a screw-up,” Barr continued.
“The systems to assure that was done were not followed.”
Neon Nettle reported at the time that Epstein was left without mandatory checks from prison guards for several hours, but he was also alone in his cell after he cellmate was transferred out.
According to The Washington Post, which cited corrections union officials and a source familiar with the case, an inmate like Epstein should have had a cellmate.
”But a person who had been assigned to share a cell with Epstein was transferred on Friday, and — for reasons that investigators are still exploring — he did not receive a new cellmate, the person familiar with the matter said Sunday night,” The Post reported at the time.
The New York Times reported that Metropolitan Correctional officials told the Justice Department when Epstein was taken off suicide watch that he “would have a cellmate and that a guard ‘would look into his cell” every 30 minutes.'"
