USVI-On-Line

Has anyone stayed on Lavongo? I think it might be all private homes but didn't know if anyone has a friend there. This past summer Phil Chalker was telling us about the house he is building there and the interesting story about a former owner with a lot of money who got in trouble because of an underage situation. Just looks like a neat place.

Greyhoundmom

What you describe about the underage situation sounds like what was going on on Little St James, see this link:
http://www.demmansay.com/files/Florida_ ... tle_St.pdf

If something simular was happening on Lavongo that is a lot of underage violation.

Mark

But the Epstein thing was in Florida - no? I don't remember any part of that story taking place in the VI.

Is that the guy that is serving a sentence of house arrest?

I heard a similar tale while on island a couple months ago.

Yes I think his plea bargain was about 3 years - he did plead guilty. He went to jail though I think - not just house arrest. Someone need to Google it I guess -

Yes, to my knowledge he was convicted in FL. He owns Little St. James and he owns the only house and the buildings on it. There was an article written giving Gov. de Jongh some grief in that Epstein employs the Governers wife and pays for the Governers kid(s) to go to the Lesser Antilles School so I don't know if there was any investigation in the islands or not but it seemed to end there.

We had a direct view of Little St. James from our rental house in February 2007.

The entire week we could see all sorts of goings-ons on the island.

The US flag would be raised and lowered at random times.

There was heavy equipment driving around but it didn't look like work was being done, just driving around aimlessly.

Sometimes we could see people hanging out on the beach and at a little house and dock.

dehman wrote:There was an article written giving Gov. de Jongh some grief in that Epstein employs the Governers wife and pays for the Governers kid(s) to go to the Lesser Antilles School

Do you have a source for that? My child was briefly in school with theirs - I wasn't aware of the family having any connection with Epstein.

As far as staying on Lovango, I've seen the Lovango Love Shack listed for rent; it's for sale as well. It sounds like fun, but insular. I think I'd rent a boat for the week, now THAT would be fun.

http://lovangovacations.com/

Still, intriguing.

Cheers, RickG

Our Ocean Runner guide told us all about the owner of Little St. James being in jail for an underage sex scandal. We believed him, but when we asked Lauren at Estate Lindholm, she sounded annoyed that that rumor was going around and said it wasn't true. I can't remember what she said was really the case, nor can I remember if she said he wasn't in jail. I can tell you that the "rumor" we were told by our captain was way off.

Epstein plead guilty - and he is in jail - but this recent article talks about how is out on a work release program for much of the day:

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/ ... n1210.html

This is no rumor - the guy was hiring underage girls and having them brought to his house. There is a detailed document (the case brought by the police) on the Smoking Gun website if you want to read it. It is pretty graphic and full of lurid details but I guess it really shows just what is involved in actual police work and not the stuff you see on TV.

I mean the guy is a billionaire, has some high powered friends, has brought a lot to the islands money wise, etc. but the facts are the facts. He plead guilty for crying out loud. None of that is rumor. I don't know how or why anybody would try to deny that.

And here is a quote from another article:

"Epstein pleaded guilty June 30 to two felony counts: soliciting prostitution and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution."

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/ ... w1214.html

I am a little confused why there seems to be any mystery about this?

Anthony,

I am not trying to fuel this and I don't remember where I read it but I would guess it was the Tradewinds or another paper down there. His spokesman responded by saying that Mr. Epstein pays tuition for the children of everyone who works for him - (in the islands I assume). Maybe they were asking the Gov. for his reaction to the charges- not sure.