‘Zorro Smiles’: Epstein’s NM ranch raises chilling new questions

A new report from The Santa Fe New Mexican is raising disturbing new questions about what was happening inside Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in southern Santa Fe County — including why the convicted sex offender appeared to be planning a private dental operation at the remote New Mexico property.

According to The New Mexican, one email released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Epstein writing to his girlfriend and assistant, Karyna Shuliak, in 2016 with a strange request.

“Please get oxygen for dental office. new york and new mexico,” Epstein wrote.

The report also says Epstein instructed Shuliak to travel with anesthetic.

That detail alone is alarming. But the New Mexico connection goes much deeper.

Shuliak, who graduated from dental school in 2015, applied for dental licenses in New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands — both places where Epstein owned major properties. In her New Mexico application, obtained by The New Mexican through a public records request, Shuliak listed Epstein’s Zorro Ranch address, 49 Zorro Ranch Road, as the proposed location for her dental practice.

The proposed name of the practice was even more chilling: “Zorro Smiles.”

There is no evidence that “Zorro Smiles” was formally established as a dental practice in Santa Fe County, according to the report. But emails released by the Justice Department suggest dental equipment may have been present at the ranch. Later in 2015, Epstein instructed the ranch manager to unplug a “dental chair pump.”

That raises obvious questions: Why did Epstein want a private dental setup at Zorro Ranch? Who was supposed to be treated there? Why would oxygen and anesthetic be needed? And what, if anything, did New Mexico regulators know?

Shuliak was licensed as a dentist in New Mexico from August 2015 until around 2021, according to records cited by The New Mexican. She was also licensed in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Florida in late 2015.

Her New Mexico license was approved with a brief one-line email.

“Grant K Sulika a General Dentistry license for the state of NM,” then-board Chair Dr. Burrell Tucker wrote on Aug. 12, 2015, misspelling Shuliak’s name.

The New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department said it has no record of complaints against Shuliak.

But the location of the proposed practice is the key issue. Zorro Ranch was not a normal office building or dental clinic. It was Epstein’s sprawling, secluded New Mexico estate — a property long tied to allegations of abuse and trafficking.

The New Mexican reported that Santa Fe County found no application for a dental business license and no reference to a dental practice at the property in development or business license records. A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office also confirmed there is no record of “Zorro Smiles” ever being registered as a company.

Andrea Brown, a spokesperson for the Regulation and Licensing Department, told The New Mexican the state dental board does not oversee practice locations.

“The statute does not include a provision to regulate the establishment of a practice location,” Brown said.

Santa Fe County spokesperson Shawna Graves said county rules would apply if Epstein was trying to operate a dental practice at the property, even if only one room was used. That could have required approval materials, including a home occupation license.

No such records were found.

The revelations come as New Mexico’s state House sub-committee “truth commission” continues investigating Epstein’s activities at Zorro Ranch. The commission recently published a subpoena to the Regulation and Licensing Department seeking records related to oversight of medical, dental, and ambulance services at the ranch.

That is exactly the question New Mexicans deserve answered.

Epstein owned Zorro Ranch from 1993 until his death in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. Unlike several of Epstein’s other properties, Zorro Ranch was not searched by law enforcement in the aftermath of his arrest.

Shuliak was reportedly listed as the primary beneficiary of Epstein’s trust and was his last call from jail before his death. Epstein planned to give her $100 million and his homes, including Zorro Ranch, according to the report.

The dental questions are not the only medical-related concerns now surfacing.

Justice Department emails show Epstein also pursued private ambulance services for his properties. In June 2015, Shuliak wrote about obtaining two “fully equipped” ambulances for the island and the ranch. An invoice in the Justice Department files shows Epstein paid $50,684 for an ambulance in early 2016, including a medical cot, defibrillator, and a 100-pound oxygen tank.

“Ambulance will read Zorro Ambulance on all 3 sides,” Epstein’s accountant wrote while finalizing the purchase.

Taken together, the details paint a deeply troubling picture: a proposed dental practice called “Zorro Smiles,” a licensed dentist tied to Epstein, references to oxygen and anesthetic, a dental chair pump, a private ambulance, and allegations of people waking up around medical equipment.

None of this proves exactly what occurred inside the ranch. But it makes the need for answers more urgent.

For decades, Epstein operated in New Mexico with access to wealth, secrecy, land, and powerful networks. Now, years after his death, New Mexicans are still learning basic facts about what may have been happening at Zorro Ranch — and what state or local agencies may have missed.

The truth commission should follow this trail aggressively. If Epstein was assembling private medical or dental infrastructure at his New Mexico ranch, the public deserves to know why, who knew, who approved anything, and whether state oversight failed.

The name “Zorro Smiles” may sound absurd.

The questions behind it are anything but.