New York prosecutors reportedly said on Wednesday that surveillance footage showing convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s first suicide attempt in July is missing.
A lawyer representing ex-cop Nick Tartaglione, who shared a cell with Epstein, 66, at the time of his initial suicide attempt, asked in court to have the footage preserved, according to the New York Post. However, prosecutors revealed that the footage is missing.
Tartaglione was jailed for allegedly killing four people during a drug deal gone wrong. His attorney, Bruce Barket, said the former officer alerted guards and rendered aid to Epstein, 66, during his first possible suicide attempt. However, a source told the New York Post that Epstein accused Tartaglione of causing the near-fatal injuries that left him unconscious in his cell in July.
“I don’t know the details of how it was lost or destroyed or why it wasn’t retained when it should have been,” Barket told the newspaper.
“We asked for all the video and photographic evidence to be preserved, specifically this surveillance video. Now it’s gone.”
Epstein was jailed without bond in July following allegations that he sex-trafficked dozens of underage girls from 2002 to 2005. The registered sex offender reportedly hanged himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on August 10.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution. He served a 13-month sentence before being released on house arrest.
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[Featured image: Jeffrey Epstein/Handout]
