Little St. James, a private island, sits nearly 2 miles off the coast of St. Thomas, surrounded by the Caribbean's turquoise waters and accessible to visitors only by boat.
Epstein island trespasser says he was hog-tied, thrown into "dungeon"
Little St. James in the Virgin Islands has attracted seekers lured by tales of Jeffrey Epstein's private island.
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Benjamin Owen landed in the Virgin Islands on April 24 with two other men. Their mission, Owen and his associate Ryan Dalton said, was to go to notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's former island, Little St. James.
The 44-year-old Memphis resident said that after arriving on the island the following day, he was hog-tied and thrown into a room he called a "dungeon," and blindfolded, until Virgin Islands police arrived and arrested him hours later.
"I don't believe I was supposed to leave that island alive," Owen told CBS News.
In just six weeks, court documents show two episodes in which at least five people traveled there without permission. But it wasn't just the accused trespassers who were arrested. Police also charged island personnel, including a staffer who managed the property for Epstein for decades and now works for its new owner.
The employees, police say, stripped and bound the trespassers they caught.
Owen claims his unauthorized expedition was in pursuit of justice — an attempt to shine a spotlight on the plight of sex trafficking survivors. He was profoundly unprepared for the ordeal that awaited him once he reached those rocky shores.
The island's holding company filed a civil suit against Owen and his associates in the first week of May, alleging they are "internet-fame seekers" and "conspiracy theorists" who acted with "wanton and reckless indifference."
The lawsuit claims the defendants are part of "a rapidly growing subculture of so-called 'urban explorers,' social-media influencers, YouTubers, and internet publicity seekers who … capitalize financially on the island's notoriety and association with Jeffrey Epstein."
It's one of at least three such civil suits seeking damages filed recently against alleged trespassers by an LLC tied to the island's current owner, Stephen Deckoff, a billionaire and founder of Black Diamond Capital Management. Deckoff purchased the island in 2023 through an investment firm he leads called SD Investments, with plans to develop it into a resort.
A spokesperson for Deckoff's island property told CBS News, "There has been an alarming increase of individuals trespassing on private property on Little St. James Island."
"Accessing the property beyond the beach, including by entering or tampering with any of the island's structures — as these intruders have been doing — is a clear violation of law and will be treated as such without exception," the spokesperson said.
Epstein purchased Little St. James in 1998. When he registered as a sex offender in 2010 after serving a Florida jail term, he listed the Virgin Islands as his residence and continued to travel to and from his island.
Over the years, he frequently hosted visitors from his prodigious social network, including former Prince Andrew, Howard Lutnick and Naomi Campbell, among others. In 2016, he purchased a nearby island, Great St. James.
Many visitors said they saw nothing untoward. But after Epstein's 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, and his death in jail a month later, the Virgin Islands filed a civil lawsuit against his estate accusing him of ferrying underage girls to the secluded Little St. James via helicopter and plane in order to sexually abuse them. The case was settled in 2022 with a $105 million payment to the Virgin Islands.
An unexpected encounter leads to zip ties and duct tape
Owen said he and two associates, Ryan Dalton and another man, who is called John Doe 1 in the lawsuit, spent weeks planning their visit to Little St. James. Dalton, who believes that Epstein might still be alive and hiding — a theory widely disproved but still thriving on the internet — started a crowdfunding page to encourage others to come forward with information.
Dalton said they felt they needed to visit Little St. James to better understand Epstein and his network. The trio met in person at an Airbnb in St. Thomas the night before their island attempt.
In an interview with CBS News, Owen acknowledged his own checkered history, describing himself as a recovered "crackhead" with 19 misdemeanor convictions. Owen said part of his goal for the trip was to plant a flag on the island representing his nonprofit, "We Fight Monsters," which renovates drug dens in Memphis and provides programming for addicts, sex trafficking survivors and homeless veterans. The city awarded the group a Safer Communities Grant last year.
Docking wasn't possible due to a rocky reef, Owen said, so the trio left the boat and swam to shore. Once they reached the shore, they started to climb straight up a cliff.
"It was very steep, rough terrain filled with cactuses," Owen said.
Towering above them was a squat building that Owen believes was likely the "temple," as it's become known to followers of the Epstein saga. Owen said the building was painted grey.
"The blue stripes and the gold are gone. The doors are boarded over, but it's like this giant tube up on a cliff, almost like a shrine. It's very odd," Owen said.
He said as soon as the trio reached the structure, they saw people on all-terrain vehicles approaching.
"The second we made it to the temple, we were spotted," Owen said. Dalton and the other man ran down the cliff and escaped, swimming back out to the boat. But Owen said he couldn't keep up and felt like he might have an asthma attack, so he sat down and waited, figuring he'd be OK because he didn't harm anyone or anything.
He said a group, including a woman and some other men, approached him screaming. His hands were tied behind his back without warning, Owen said. He was transported to a dock, where he said he was zip-tied.
Finally, he said the group transported him up a hill. Owen said on the side of the cliff was a pair of double doors with a concrete pad outside. "The roof is dirt on top of it. And it's like this 10-by-20 cement room. There's nothing in there," Owen said.
He said he was thrown inside. He described the room as a "dungeon" where security guards duct-taped his ankles, knees and wrists behind his back.
"I'm tied with rope, I'm tied with zip ties, I'm tied with duct tape. I'm like, I'm not going anywhere," Owen said.
Dalton said he returned to St. Thomas and rented a helicopter to fly over the island searching for Owen. They could not find him.
A holdover from Epstein's era on Little St. James
Owen said he heard the woman and the other men debating whether to contact the island's owner. In his disorientation, he believed Deckoff was on his way.
Instead, a woman arrived, Owen said. She entered the room where Owen was being held and ordered the men watching over him to move him into the corner. He said she was screaming angrily. At the time, he didn't know who it was.
"She has them drag me back into the corner," Owen said, as he described his panic starting to rise. "And I'm starting to wonder, like, where the hell are the police?"
He said he was blindfolded, the doors slammed shut, and he was left alone again. Owen said the "dungeon" was so hot, he thought he might die. He needed water. He doesn't know how much time passed, but suddenly the doors burst open and his blindfold was ripped off.
It was the Virgin Islands police, Owen said.
He was brought to the local police station and arrested for trespassing, according to court records. At his probable cause hearing, he learned that police believe the woman who directed that he be blindfolded was Ann Rodriquez, Epstein's former property manager. Rodriquez was named in court documents as being involved in the incident.
Rodriquez, whose name appears frequently in the millions of files about Epstein released by the U.S. Department of Justice, still appears to manage Little St. James. Owen said she told him on the island that she was the property supervisor. Rodriquez also identified herself to V.I. investigators as the property manager of Little St. James Island.
One of Rodriquez's daughters, Emery Poleon, was on the island that day, and her boyfriend was arrested during the scuffle with Owen, according to police records. He told police he became upset after she called and told him "she had been pushed to the ground by individuals trespassing on the island and taking photographs." Owen said he didn't witness the incident when Poleon was allegedly hit, as he wasn't in the same location at the time.
The boyfriend also told police Owen was "restrained by island personnel in an effort to detain him and 'protect the island.'"
On April 26, a day after the encounter with Owen, Rodriquez was arrested in connection with a separate incident from March 1 in which another trespasser was hog-tied and stripped naked. It was a remarkably similar incident to the one alleged by Owen.
The tied-up trespasser, Eloi Gil Sancho, was found in a boat by a U.S. Coast Guard member. The officer had responded to a call and provided the U.S. Virgin Islands police with details from the incident.
Gil Sancho reported that he and his brother were filming Little St. James Island for a documentary. Their drone landed on the island's beach and when they went to retrieve it on their jet skis, a boat started aggressively pursuing them, the police record said.
The boat caught up to his brother, Marcel Gil Sancho. Rodriquez ordered him to kneel and place his hands behind his head while pointing a firearm resembling a Glock handgun at him, the police report alleged.
Rodriquez was arrested on charges of false imprisonment and kidnapping, assault in the third degree and destruction of property.
It is not clear how Eloi Gil Sancho ended up naked in a second boat.
The island's holding company sued the brothers, claiming the duo recklessly endangered personnel when they refused a demand to "stop" and "identify" themselves.
Rodriquez has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident involving Owen. An attorney for Rodriquez referred CBS News to the spokesperson for Deckoff, who did not reply to questions about the allegations against Rodriquez.
Owen said security guards told him at least seven groups of trespassers had been violently assaulted in the last several months. CBS News was unable to confirm that allegation. The island holding company did not respond to detailed questions about the incidents.
The lawsuit Owen is facing alleges that he is "detached from reality" due to his long history of substance abuse and is "prone to embracing and pursuing wild conspiracy theories."
The suit claims the trespassers posted their exploits online, "providing them fame and financial reward," and that Owen and Dalton "revel in their insane conspiracy theories, and use those theories to justify their criminal conduct."
Owen is bracing for the fallout.
"It's kind of scary if it really is a billionaire coming after me," Owen said.
Credits
Reporting by Cara Tabachnick, Graham Kates and Nicole Sganga . Design and development by Grace Manthey. Editing by Nicole Chau and Paula Cohen.
Map animation: Mapcreator, OpenStreetMap, Apple Maps.
