Jeffrey Epstein's private island was the site of unspeakable crimes – and seven years after his death, nobody in power has explained what really happened there.
One man decided to find out for himself.
What he found when he got there is something the people on Epstein's client list need to disappear.
What the Epstein Files Reveal About the Woman Still Running Little Saint James
Ann Rodriquez ran Jeffrey Epstein's island for decades – and she appears in more than 4,700 documents in the DOJ's Epstein files – emails about staffing, scheduling, meal prep, and travel arrangements for the guests who flew to the notorious Little James Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
She called Epstein "Bossman."
He left her $500,000 in his 2014 trust.
One email in the files shows Rodriquez was copied on a message confirming two girls would accompany Epstein to the island and need rooms – her response asked whether they were flying commercial or with him.
Seven years after his death, Rodriquez is still living on Little Saint James – now owned by billionaire Stephen Deckoff, who paid $60 million for it in 2023 and announced a luxury resort that has never materialized.
On April 25, Benjamin Owen – a Memphis anti-trafficking activist and founder of We Fight Monsters – swam to the island with four others to photograph the property.
Maintenance workers spotted them.
Rodriquez's daughter confronted the group.
Owen got winded trying to flee.
What the maintenance workers did to him when they caught him is what landed Rodriquez back in front of a judge.
Ann Rodriquez Faced Kidnapping Charges on Epstein Island Once Before
When Virgin Islands police arrived at Little Saint James, they found Owen restrained with duct tape – his legs bound, his face wrapped – locked in what island staff calls the dungeon.
He was wearing only black pants with the words "We Fight Monsters" across them.
Ryan Dalton – a former federal agent who was part of Owen's group – told Memphis station WREG that Owen had been hogtied, hands behind his back in flex cuffs, and thrown into that room while starting to dehydrate.
Then, as officers were documenting the scene, Rodriquez's daughter's boyfriend walked past law enforcement and struck Owen while he was still restrained.
A detective who had a direct view of the assault recorded it in a written supplement.
Paul Arnold III was handcuffed on the spot and charged with assault.
Owen was charged with trespassing and released on a $500 bond.
This was not the first time Rodriquez had faced kidnapping charges on that island.
On March 1, she allegedly pursued two brothers in a boat after they rode jet skis near the island to film a documentary.
She pointed a gun – later identified as a BB gun – and ordered one of the men into the water.
He was forced onto her boat, stripped, and hogtied while the memory cards from their drone were thrown into the ocean.
The Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and Border Patrol all responded.
Rodriquez was charged with false imprisonment, kidnapping, third-degree assault, and destruction of property.
Her bail was set at $75,000.
Why the Epstein Island Cover-Up Did Not End When Merrick Garland Left
Ghislaine Maxwell is serving 20 years and hasn’tt named a single person who used that island.
The Trump DOJ released millions of Epstein documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
None of them have produced an arrest of anyone who flew on Epstein's plane and walked off free.
Merrick Garland ran the Justice Department for four years and never touched this island, never touched Rodriquez, never touched anyone whose name appears in those flight logs.
Benjamin Owen swam to that island in a pair of nonprofit logo pants to take pictures – and ended up duct-taped in a dungeon.
The woman who ran the place for Epstein is still running the place.
Merrick Garland called that justice.
Todd Blanche is running the DOJ now – and for the first time in years, there’s a chance that justice could be served.
Sources:
- Jared Downing, "Anti sex-trafficking campaigner says he tried to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's 'pedo island' — and ended up getting hog-tied and blind-folded," New York Post, April 29, 2026.
- "We Fight Monsters founder tied up on Epstein Island, charged with trespassing," WREG Memphis, April 29, 2026.
- "Manager of island once owned by Jeffrey Epstein charged with false imprisonment," Virgin Islands Daily News, April 29, 2026.
- "Ex-Epstein employee accused of kidnapping at Little St. James," St. Thomas Source, April 27, 2026.
- "Duct Tape, Gunpoint and a Man Found Hogtied Naked," Virgin Islands Consortium, April 27, 2026.
- "Ann Rodriguez," Epstein Exposed, epsteinexposed.com, April 2026.