A Memphis man accused of trespassing on Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious private island, Little St. James, claims he was hogtied, blindfolded, and locked in a dungeon by people who he said left him fearing for his life.
Benjamin Owen, 44, told CBS News that he believed he was not “supposed to leave that island alive” after he and two associates ventured onto Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands on April 24.
Owen, founder of the Memphis-based nonprofit We Fight Monsters, said he traveled to the island alongside Ryan Dalton and another man. Owen claimed in a statement to WREG that they visited the island to research Epstein and bring the disgraced financier’s crimes “back in the spotlight.”
Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, purchased the infamous “Pedo Island” in 1998.
The island is now owned by billionaire Stephen Deckoff, founder of Black Diamond Capital Management, who bought the property in 2023 through SD Investments with plans to turn it into a resort.
According to Owen, the group reached a hilltop structure known as the “temple” before being spotted by people on all-terrain vehicles.
“The second we made it to the temple, we were spotted,” Owen told CBS News.
Dalton and the third man allegedly escaped by running down a cliff and swimming back to their boat. Owen said he fell behind because he feared suffering an asthma attack and decided to wait, believing he would not be harmed because he had not damaged anything or harmed anyone.
Instead, Owen alleged that a group of men and a woman approached him screaming, before tying his hands behind his back. He claimed he was taken to a dock, restrained with zip ties, then transported uphill to what he described as a concrete “dungeon” built into the side of a cliff.
“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.
Owen alleged he was thrown inside, duct-taped at the ankles, knees, and wrists, and blindfolded.
“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,” he said.
He claimed the room became so hot that he feared he might die before Virgin Islands police eventually arrived and arrested him for trespassing.
“I don’t believe I was supposed to leave that island alive,” Owen told CBS News.
Police also charged island personnel connected to separate alleged incidents involving trespassers. On April 26, authorities arrested Ann Rodriquez, identified by police as Epstein’s longtime property manager, who still appears to manage the island, in connection with a March incident involving another alleged trespasser who reported being hogtied and stripped naked.
Rodriquez faces charges including kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault, and destruction of property. She has not been charged in connection with Owen’s allegations.
The island’s holding company filed a civil lawsuit against Owen and his associates in early May, accusing them of being “internet-fame seekers” and “conspiracy theorists” who acted with “wanton and reckless indifference.”
The suit alleges the men belonged to “a rapidly growing subculture of so-called ‘urban explorers,’ social-media influencers, YouTubers, and internet publicity seekers” attempting to profit from the island’s notoriety.
A spokesperson for the island 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.
The Daily Beast has reached out to a representative for Deckoff for comment.
