A YouTuber claims he was hogtied and thrown in a dungeon on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island by vigilante staff before being arrested for trespassing
A YouTuber who snuk onto Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious private island claims he was hogtied, blindfolded and thrown into a sweltering cliffside dungeon. Benjamin Owen, 44, from Memphis, travelled to the infamous Little St James in the Caribbean with his friend Ryan Dalton and a third unnamed companion.
But their exploration turned into a nightmare when they were spotted near the island’s creepy “temple” structure.
Owen claims he was aggressively detained by island staff, wrapped in duct tape and shoved into a concrete room where he feared he might die. Speaking to CBS News, he said: “I don’t believe I was supposed to leave that island alive.”
The drama kicked off when the trio arrived on the island, which Owen says was part of an effort to raise awareness for his human trafficking non-profit, We Fight Monsters, and to test his theory that Epstein is still alive.
However, when security spotted them, the group scattered. While Owen’s friends managed to dash down a cliff and swim back to their boat, Owen, who suffers from asthma, was forced to surrender.
He alleges that a group approached him screaming, tying his hands behind his back without warning. He was then marched to a pair of double doors built directly into a hillside.
Owen said: “The roof is dirt on top of it. And it’s like this 10-by-20 cement room. There’s nothing in there.”
Inside the makeshift dungeon, Owen claims guards went to extreme lengths to secure him, wrapping duct tape around his ankles, knees and wrists.
He claims a woman later entered the room, screamed at the guards to shove him into a corner and ordered that he be blindfolded before slamming the doors, leaving him to bake in the suffocating Caribbean heat.
Eventually, the doors burst open and Virgin Islands police ripped off his blindfold, arresting him for trespassing. He was later released on a $500 (£400) bond.
At a subsequent hearing, Owen said he discovered that the woman allegedly pulling the strings was Ann Rodriguez- a name that reportedly appears frequently in the millions of Department of Justice files regarding billionaire paedophile Epstein.
Rodriguez is still said to manage the property for its new owner, billionaire Stephen Deckoff, who bought the island for $60million, with plans to turn it into a luxury 25-room resort.
Police now allege that staff on the island have been taking justice into their own hands to combat a massive surge of influencers and urban explorers flocking to the eerie site.
Just one day after Owen’s ordeal, Rodriguez was arrested in connection with a separate incident involving another trespasser, Elio Gil Sancho, who was allegedly hogtied and stripped naked.
In that instance, Rodriguez allegedly pointed a handgun at Sancho’s brother and ordered him to kneel. She was subsequently hit with charges of false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault and destruction of property.
While island staff face criminal questions, the island’s holding company is fighting back with its own legal action, slapping Owen and his associates with a lawsuit.
The suit brands the group as “internet-fame seekers” and “conspiracy theorists” acting with “wanton and reckless indifference” just to make a quick buck online.
The legal documents include a personal swipe at Owen, who is suggested to be “detached from reality” and “prone to embracing and pursuing wild conspiracy theories.”
A spokesperson for Deckoff’s island property issued a stern warning to any other internet sleuths thinking of making the trip.
They said: “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.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.