7500 acres of new Mexico property owned by the estate of a convicted sex offender. When he was alive, Jeffrey Epstein face federal sex trafficking charges accused of recruiting young girls for prostitution. The former billionaires company still owns the sprawling property with a mansion south of santa fe will target seven to nancy Lawson has learned. It will soon be up for sale. Yeah. David Ryan is a bit of a professional hiker. These guys go with me everywhere, writing books and blogs on trails in the Land of Enchantment. I've got a state recreation access permit in here. A special permit. It allows you to access state land. Let him to explore his passion, sparking. You know, I've always had an interest in archaeology. Much of that archaeology is found on property owned by the state and I was looking at this website, archaeology and the Gallizio basis. One of the entries in there was about the crust on and just and it showed pictures of the, of the spectacular petra cliffs. The Crestone is a Ridgeline located mostly on state trust land in a remote area south of santa fe. Pictures from the state showed up close, amazing stories etched in rock from the people who inhabited this area. As early as the 13 hundreds. You can see David with me to see it. So he looked at his map, spotted a county road at a way to get there without crossing private property and I found that slavery state land that allowed you to access. And that's when I ran into the Jeffrey Epstein Ranch Security. Yes, Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire who died in jail while facing federal charges of sex trafficking. A company he had ties to owns the land next to the Crestone. Now it's controlled by his estate. All of a sudden there was a cloud of dust of a pickup truck approaching us. And that's when you know, the woman who works for the ranch jumped out with a gun too. Tell us to stop. He was told he was on private property, but he was certain he hadn't trespassed. I knew I was on state land because I had my GPS. I I had plotted out coordinates to walk to to make sure I stayed on state land. The entire time he filed an incident report with the state Land Commission, I recorded my route and and that was part of what I provided the state to show this is where I walked. The state land commissioner knew who to contact. She had just wrapped up a legal battle with the executors of the Epstein estate. The owners of the land bordering the state property, where David said he was hiking from Sky Seven, you can see the Zorro ranch. Abstain bought in the nineties. He built this mansion with sprawling gardens in the new Mexico desert, an airplane landing strip, corrals and stables for livestock and homes for ranch workers. He expanded his property by leasing state land including part of the Crestone, the grazing leases, our particular contracts that really incentivize this agricultural practice that's been going on in in New Mexico in in our area for generations. Epstein's name and signature are on the state land leases. With approval from the state. He moved this antique train car to the state property, But it was used for is unknown. So when we came into office in 2019, um, it was brought to our attention that we were still in business with this particular entity and this uh predator state land Commissioner, Stephanie Garcia Richard broke ties with Zorro Ranch and canceled the lease, but she reached back out when David Ryan said he'd been approached at gunpoint by Zorro Ranch employees. It is a little unnerving to have somebody pointed a gun at you and tell you to stop the attorney for the estate answered apologizing for any distress or misunderstanding from the interaction. Letters obtained from the state reveal the executors of the estate live in new york and the Virgin Islands. The attorney for the estate says five employees maintain the 7500 acre ranch and their sole purpose is to keep it up so it can be sold later this year. In a statement, he says the money will go to the Epstein victims compensation program, I wrote specifically to the federal authorities so that they could seize this property. The new Mexico attorney general wants money from the sale to go to victims, but once the federal government to seize the property. A spokesperson declined to comment on whether or not seizing the property is in the works. So for now the property is monitored by cameras. A call box at the security gate went unanswered by workers inside your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system while the estate gets ready to put Zorro Ranch on the market saying right now, there's no asking price and no whispers of interested buyers for target seven nancy Loveland Kuwaiti action Seven News Epstein's estate also controls properties in florida new york and the Virgin Islands. His attorney says employees. Those properties have been targeted. Target severance request to see the property was denied. Mhm. Right.