Epstein island trespasser says he was hog-tied, thrown into "dungeon"
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 said.
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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.
