DIGITALLY RECORDED¶
SWORN STATEMENT¶
OIG CASE #:¶
2019-010614¶
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL¶
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE¶
AUGUST 5, 2021¶
RESOLUTE DOCUMENTATION SERVICES¶
28632 Roadside Drive, Suite 285¶
Agoura Hills, CA 91301¶
Phone: (818) 431-5800¶
EFTA00117030¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
2¶
APPEARANCES:¶
OTHER APPEARANCES:¶
NONE¶
EFTA00117031¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
is being conducted as part of an official U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General investigation. Today’s date is August 5, 2021, and the time is 1:49 p.m. This interview is being conducted at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, located in New York, New York. Also present is DOJ/OIG Special Agent This interview will be recorded by me, Special Agent - or Senior Special Agent - Could everyone please identify themselves for the record, and spell their last name? To start, again, I am DOJ/OIG Senior Special Agent¶
EFTA00117032¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
4¶
Thank you. I am looking at a picture, which it does match the person sitting in front of me. This is an official DOJ investigation into the death of inmate Jeffrey Epstein and the surrounding circumstances, and you are being asked to voluntarily provide answers to our questions. Will you agree to a voluntary interview with the DOJ/OIG?¶
MR. All right. And there’s a form that we - and we just interviewed you, just shortly, you know, a short time ago - but it’s the same form. It says, United States Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Warnings and Assurances to Employee Requested to Provide Information on a Voluntary¶
EFTA00117033¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
5¶
Basis. “You are being asked to provide information as part of an investigation being conducted by the Office of the Inspector General. This investigation is being conducted pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended. This investigation pertains to job performance failure and security failure. This is a voluntary interview. Accordingly, you do not have to answer questions. No disciplinary action will be taken against you if you choose not to answer questions. Any statements you furnish may be used as evidence in any future criminal proceedings, or agency disciplinary proceedings, or both.” And there’s a waiver section. It says, “I understand the Warnings and Assurances stated above and I am willing to make a statement and answer questions. No promises or threats have been made to me, and no pressure or coercion of any kind has been used against me.” You want to take a look? Again, it’s the same form from before, but if you agree, there’s an employee signature, and an employee’s name, where you print.¶
EFTA00117034¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117035¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
7¶
already showed me your credentials, so I don’t need to ask you this background stuff. Are you currently employed by the BOP?¶
this is just a supplemental interview. When we spoke last, you talked about some different documentation that we could potentially obtain in order to clear up some of the things we were looking at. Specifically, we were looking into Efrain Reyes. And when he was released, and what would have been put on the court list. The court transfer. So, when we last spoke, we talked about this daily log. This, I’m going to show you. It’s from 8/9/2019. And on the third page, where I’ve highlighted, it says Reyes was pre-removed at 0838, when you had mentioned, during our interview, that you can’t¶
EFTA00117036¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
8¶
EFTA00117037¶
EFTA00117038¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
10¶
EFTA00117039¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117040¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
12¶
EFTA00117041¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
13¶
EFTA00117042¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117043¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
15¶
EFTA00117044¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
16¶
EFTA00117045¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
17¶
will be deleting today’s call out, and I will be entering tomorrow’s call out.¶
right. So, that covers Efrain Reyes. The next one is going to be with regard to inmate Fernandez. Do you recall us talking to you about an inmate Fernandez? I know you worked in control.¶
EFTA00117046¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
18¶
EFTA00117047¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
19¶
MS. At that time, the number two.¶
They normally they didn’t have an internal number two, but that person is the person that was in there with me because, at that time, when they would put the internal number two on the roster, they would be the person that would assist the control center officer, in the control. And they would do the counts, and assignments, and do the - yeah - the counts. The call outs. If somebody was on suicide watch, and they had a companion swap out to come out to a work detail, they would take that companion off, put that new companion on, while food service came and they would key in the food service workers that would be off the housing unit, but at that time, we only have -. If we had anybody, it would be him.¶
EFTA00117048¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
MS. My responsibility was ensuring all the equipment was in the control center, doing a body alarm testing. What else? Tracking all the equipment. Doing the paperwork as far as the security forms, (Indiscernible *00:13:37) security forms. And looking up at cameras periodically. Popping the doors.¶
MR. : Okay. Then this might not be too relevant. All right. As far as the last person we talked about during our last interview was Fernandez, and we’ve since learned, through our reviews, that Fernandez was gone from the SHU around 1:40 p.m., and definitely moved to R&D at least by 3:15.¶
EFTA00117049¶
EFTA00117050¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
22¶
EFTA00117051¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117052¶
EFTA00117053¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
25¶
EFTA00117054¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117055¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
27¶
EFTA00117056¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
28¶
EFTA00117057¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
29¶
EFTA00117058¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
30¶
says one. However, and again, I think - which we already discussed in our last one - and according to the ZA count slips, on the very last page, it says 73.¶
it at 12:01 a.m. And do you have any knowledge or recollection of this being a bad count? Being that the E1 says 72, and the count slip said that, it said 73. And you don’t —¶
they’re take - that’s, like, the beginning of the shift. So, normally, while they’re taking count, I’m in there, verifying keys, making sure equipment is there, radios is there, checking all - everything else. So, while they’re taking the count. So, I’m not necessarily sitting right there, alongside them, listening to what’s going on.¶
MR. : Okay.¶
EFTA00117059¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117060¶
32¶
EFTA00117061¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
33¶
MR. : Okay. So, when people go in and out of the institution, they get keys. Is that what it is?¶
MS. No. At the end of the night, at the end of the night, on the evening shift, you got to account for all the equipment, and that’s the - to make sure those keys are there, and that those keys have this many -. Let me not say that, like that. Account for all the keys on the keyring. The keyring might say A1, five keys. So, there’s a chit on the keyring that says five. So, you have to make sure five keys is on that keyring.¶
MR. : Yeah. So, like, I’ve been in other institutions where they have these, you know, the little rings that, if they go in or out of the institution, they grab¶
EFTA00117062¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
34¶
specifically with equipment, if you take a piece of equipment, then you take the chip to go with it?¶
MS. No. That has to do specifically, with accountability for keys. Meaning, A1 has 18 keys. So, if the chit on the keyring says 18, you’re supposed to have 18 keys. So, if lock shop came and changed the keys, and took one key off or added a key, that key count would be different. It would be another number for that key. So, you’re verifying. That’s basically just verification and accountability that this is how ever many keys we have on that keyring.¶
MR. : Okay. So, this is just showing what keys, and if they’re actual keys, and the accountability of those keys.¶
MS. Right. And how many keys is¶
EFTA00117063¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
35¶
EFTA00117064¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
36¶
you, you’ll say, I have Charlie nine with five or whatever amount of keys you have, and he’ll write that down. And then, the lieutenant will go over this at night, and verify the key count is accurate.¶
EFTA00117065¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
37¶
EFTA00117066¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117067¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
39¶
EFTA00117068¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
40¶
like this. I’m going to pull it off my ring. They look like this.¶
different. But some of them are square, some of them are circle. Some of them are octagon shaped. Just depends on however your institution cuts them out.¶
EFTA00117069¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
41¶
at that time, we was on three shifts. So, the evening shift would do this, anywhere between 4:00, 6:00.¶
MR. : So, this document you were looking at, would have been somewhere between 4:00 and 6:00 on 8/9/2021. The next one wouldn’t be done until —¶
So, most of the times, if you have officers on the unit, it’s feasible to take the key count when you’re doing your body alarm testing of the unit officers, and verifying that officers on duty asking who’s on shift, so you can write their name for that post. So, it’s always easy to do it at that time. So, normally, for the officers, this would take place during, when their body alarm is being tested. And that’s normally at the start of your shift, that you test your body alarm, when you come in the institution.¶
EFTA00117070¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
42¶
MS. A: If you write it in a logbook, and you notify the lieutenant, but if it’s missing, and it can’t be found, then yeah, it gets written down. But if it’s missing and it’s located, and it’s returned, then it’s not really missing because it’s, oh, I, you know, if you say - prime example - you’ll say inmate so and so chit is here, but you know so and so is gone, and those chits should have been back. You might call them and say, hey, do you have keys, so and so? And they’ll say, oh, yeah, and then, they’ll turn around, because you’re supposed to turn around immediately and bring the keys back to the institution.¶
EFTA00117071¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
43¶
MS. Or still on your waist. Or you just forgot to just transfer over the keys to the relieving officer. That has happened. If somebody went home, you know, left out the institution with the keys on, and just didn’t think to give it to the officer, by accident. And had to come back and bring the keys back. So, yeah.¶
MR. But in this case, you couldn’t get, like, the key to, like, actually get in and out of the SHU. Correct? Because that inner door, that’s not on that board. Correct?¶
MS. Hmm-mm. Nobody just pops a key, uses a key to get in SHU. Nobody - everything is always by the control center, in order to get into SHU - nobody can just walk up to SHU with a key and go in and out.¶
when you said there’s these keys, there’s some SHU on there, with the Charlie —¶
EFTA00117072¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
EFTA00117073¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
45¶
EFTA00117074¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
I’m turning off the recorder.¶
EFTA00117075¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
47¶
EFTA00117076¶
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE¶
48¶
CERTIFICATE¶
I hereby certify that the foregoing pages represent an accurate transcript of the electronic sound recording of the proceedings before the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General in the matter of:¶
Interview of S’AMAR ANDREA¶
Brianna Rose Burton, Transcriber¶
EFTA00117077¶