Police found two men stripped and bound in separate incidents on Little St. James Island in recent weeks, both allegedly at or near the former island home of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein without permission, according to court records posted Monday.
Longtime Epstein property manager Ann Rodriquez was charged with kidnapping, assault and destruction of property for allegedly aggressively boating after two men on jet skis, forcing one man to strip and be hog-tied at gunpoint.
Agents from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Virgin Islands Police Department descended on the island March 1 when the man’s brother fled on a Jet Ski to alert authorities.
The brothers were attempting to film a documentary about the island when Rodriquez and other men, not named in police reports, allegedly sped up. Rodriquez allegedly leveled a handgun at one man while shouting, “I will kill you,” according to court records. She allegedly ordered the man to swim to her boat, where he was made to kneel with his hands over his head. The other brother filmed part of the encounter and then, fearing he was next, sped away to summon police.
Authorities arrived to find the victim hog-tied naked in the back of the boat, according to court records.
Rodriquez had allegedly rifled the victim’s bag and thrown memory cards containing drone footage of the island into the sea. The handgun turned out to be a BB gun designed to look like a Glock 19, with no orange safety markings. Police found two more similar weapons on the island, according to court records.
Rodriquez, who identified herself as still the property manager of Little Saint James Island, now owned by billionaire investor Stephen Deckoff, told police uninvited visitors frequently approached the island to obtain social media content.
Rodriquez did not respond to telephone messages left Monday asking about the frequency of trespassers on the island. It was not clear why the March 1 incident wasn’t heard at Superior Court until Monday, but it was not the last time she would acknowledge to police that she had chased an alleged island intruder with a boat.
In the same courtroom Monday, a Tennessee man pleaded not guilty to trespassing on the island Saturday.
Benjamin Jackson Owen and others were allegedly on the island without permission when spotted by a maintenance worker, who alerted Rodriquez’s adult daughter. Rodriquez and daughter found and photographed the men, telling them they were trespassing, according to court records.
As the men attempted to flee, one allegedly pushed the daughter, causing the five-months-pregnant woman to fall over, according to police reports.
Rodriquez sped after the man as they boated across Pillsbury Sound to St. John, where employees of the boat rental company refused her request to identify their customers. While filling out a police report, she received a call from her daughter: Maintenance workers had detained one of the alleged intruders, tying his hands and mouth with duct tape, according to police reports.
Officers arrived to find Owen shirtless, restrained with duct tape and Paul J. Arnold III, boyfriend of the pregnant woman, acting so aggressively that officers had to warn him to calm down, police said. The warning worked only briefly, according to court records.
“ … Paul J. Arnold III exited an all-terrain vehicle positioned behind the officers and proceeded to walk past multiple law enforcement personnel. Shortly thereafter, I heard a loud impact consistent with a physical strike. Although I did not directly observe the moment of contact, the sound and immediate reaction of officers indicated that a physical altercation had occurred. Law enforcement officers immediately responded and detained Paul J. Arnold III. He did not resist, and handcuffs were applied. Officers then removed the duct tape restraints from Benjamin Owen. Photographs were taken to document his condition prior to his release from the bindings. Both Benjamin Owen and Paul J. Arnold III were subsequently taken into custody and transported via the Marine Unit vessel to the Richard Callwood Command,” police told the Superior Court.
Arnold was charged with assault but police were investigating further unlawful restraint and kidnapping charges against the island employees.
Owen allegedly told police he and others had been on the island to take photographs for his Atlanta-area nonprofit, We Fight Monsters, but was too winded to escape when his compatriots ran away, according to court records.
