Myles jailed for 6 months

| 27/06/2014

(CNS) Updated 2-30pm Friday: The former deputy chair of the National Housing and Development Trust has received a six month jail term in connection with his conviction for seven deception offenses. However, Edlin Myles has already been released from jail pending an appeal. The former NHDT director who has no previous convictions was sentenced by Justice Alex Henderson Friday, who said that a custodial sentence was required to act as a deterrent. He pointed to the breach of trust in the case and how Myles had used his position to sell the policies to the applicants of the government's affordable home scheme. But, within an hour of the judge's decision his attorney secured a bail hearing in front of another judge and kept his client out of HMP Northward.

Justice Williams is understood to have heard the bail application in Chambers where Ben Tonner argued for his client's bail to continue on the basis that an appeal has been filed against both conviction and sentence. As a result Myles was released from custody.

In explaining his reasons for delivering a custodial sentence Justice Henderson said that Myles had used his position as a director of the Trustto firstly obtain his victims contact details from a Trust employee and then introduced himself as a trust member when he called them to set up appointments. As a member of the committee which would decide which applicants would be approved for a home, the judge had said it was clear that this had influenced the circumstances of the deception.

Although the amount of money which Myles obtained amounted to just $630, the total was not the most significant factor in the case,but the degree to which a trust had been breached and his position abused for his own advantage.

The judge said the "principle of deterrent was paramount" in his decision to order a custodial sentence of six months and a compensation order for the $630 which was taken from the victims in premiums.

Myles was supported by friends and family as he was handed over to the authorities awaiting his departure to HMP Northward, before his attorney was able to get Myles' bail extended.

 

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  1. Anonymous says:

    His firm, which should have the minimum required due dilligence controls to monitor for conflicts of interest, gets off scott-free for approving the transactions and collectingthe lion's share of the premiums.  Yet, they aren't even named as a party!  Welcome to Cayman.  

  2. Anonymous says:

    12:24

    Agreed. Though a crime, yes, A waste of money and resources sending this man to Northward. Community service is a much better idea for all.

    • Jail time plus says:

      Sorry, although an expense to the people, we must enforce jail time. Too many wel connected locals think white collar crime is ok and only a problem if you get caught! We must enforce jail time to send a strong message.  We cannot tolerate unethical behavior a d must start to curb corruption.

      Cronyism and corruption. Is evil and ethics cannot be faked. Either you are 100% ethical or not. Those who are not (no such thing as a white lie) must pay

      • And Another Ting says:

        09:32 Lets bring back the thief who stole from the Pines and jail her for Life then

        • Anonymous says:

          Which public board position did she abuse?

          • Anonymous says:

            Oh, so it is fine to be in a position of trust and steal from a charity? It might not fall under the Anti-Corruption Law but it is still a crime. Don't be a hypocrite. Some expats are only concernrd about white collar crime when it is a Caymanian involved.

            • Anonymous says:

              Public corruption is much more serious and it is rampant.  Of course, given that the boards are staffed by Caymanians, it will be a Caymanian committing the crimes, but that does not make it an ex-pat Caymanian bashing issue.

            • Diogenes says:

              And some people want to make everything an expat vs Caymanian thing.  How can you call the poster a hypocrite when you have no knowledge of either their nationality or their position on the the Pines case – all they said was that the case did not involve a Board, which is correct.  You are the one assuming that they are both an expat and that they think that expats should somehow get away with it.  Crime is wrong, breach of trust is wrong.  However, in the Pines case the person is no longer in the jurisdiction, all the money stolen has been paid back, and the PInes itself does not want to press charges.  There are fundamental differences betwen the cases that have nothing to do with the nationality of the person involved.  XXXX

              • Anonymous says:

                The hyprocrisy lies in making a distinction without a difference. They have made clear their position on the Pines case by the nature of their comment. Each crime should be treated seriously. The fact that the Pines which is chaired by another expat does not want to press charges agains the expat criminal only reinforces my point. There is a public interest in prosecuting the matter. The fact that you say the money has been paid back should be irrelevant to whether the matter is proscecuted. Are you seriously suggesting that if I rob a bank and later return the money there should be no consequences? You are in denial. Only an expat would make such a comment, and only an expat would defend it.

        • Anonymous says:

          Very different issues.

          • And Another Zting says:

            A ea de rass you say different issue, different. Yeah 600.00 versus hundreds of thousands.  One day one day, we shall see all ona go away one day.

  3. Anonymous says:

    The high levels of appeals from convictions is a national scandal and evidences a "trying to get away with it" mentality.  I am not saying anything specific about this case.  But there needs to be consequences for pursuing a bad appeal, such as additional sentencing.  Legal aid should not be available for appeals.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Be careful what you ask for Edlin. The Court of Appeal has the power to increase sentences too and might take the view that Justice Henderson's sentence was too lenient given the circumstances of your case. I hope that you were so advised by your attorney !

  5. Anonymous says:

    You people have no clue about what went on but yet can sit  and spectulate and be so damn negative  towards a man that had good intentions you can sit and sound like a bunch of real negative idiots I am not saying u can't have an opinion but please your damn judgement is definitely not needed keep your damn negative opinions to yourself this man is a damn good and respectful man a great family man so please boy i tell you bout caymanians boy always trying tear each other down and finding it funny and a big joke we as a country stand to stand by each other and this is coming from a young caymanian 

    • Anonymous says:

      Convicted by a jury of his peers\\

      What more can be said!

      • Jonas Dwyer says:

        Perhaps the peers were biased as he was already tried in the public domain.

    • Anonymous says:

      If that is the case, he can still have good intentions and still be honourable in jail.

    • Anonymous says:

      Sometimes unpunctuated stream of consciousness can veer towards the Joycean.  This does not so veer.

  6. Anonymous says:

    He shold be put away. too long these arrogrant people get away with their dirt and just skip along. Jail him, deny his appeal and show all those types like him that they are not above the law or can do as they please and not suffer the circumstances.

    • Anonymous says:

      He shold. We all shold. You shold, he sholds. I give up, what is "to shold"? I need a shoulder to cry on.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Board members have been giving the public service a bad name for years. The system is working finally. Let’s see how many Board members are even arrested in the next 4 years. My prediction zero!!

  8. Anonymous says:

    People read the article. ..he is released pending retrial

    • Anonymous says:

      No..how about you read the article.

      He is released pending appeal which is a completely different thing to a retrial

  9. Anonymous says:

    God bless you Mr Myles. Our Good Lord will see you through this. Sometimes it takes a stumbling block to remind someone their just human. Take this time and focus on your gift. Your a great musician, and a classy gentleman. I just regret you didn’t go judge alone, this just seems far stretched and overblown. And question? Does this now set a precedence that may see many real estate brokers in jeopardy of a conflict of interest? Many have “connections” and “investments” in this business.But hey, thats just my take.

    Regeneration Mr Myles – bless up!!!

  10. Anonymous says:

    Does this open the door to white collar criminals, civil servants and yes, even politicians to spend time in Northward if caught breaking the law?

    Just writing that sentence made me feel good even if it is still is only a dream.

    But I have a dream.

  11. Anonymous says:

    The monetary Authority needs to step up to the plate and deal with some of these Insurance Agents and their Companys. I happened to be in a conversation with a certain well known man who was complaining about vested interest that he has in a certain Insurance that he worked for for many years. When he first resigned his monthly check was very interesting but within a few months it was down to just a couple hundred dollars. He said that other new agents was out there telling his clients to cancel or cash in their old policies and to buy new ones from them. Then when one look at the Agents that are out there trying to advise us on our Finances and they dont even own a little cubby hole…… I even heard of one of them who was asking a prospect client to loan them alittle cash, it makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Looks like anyone can be an Insurance Agent these days. A big job for the Monetary Authority.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Judge, jury, executioner, that's what most of you appear to be! Come now, this is a horrible chain of events for Edlin. I obviously cannot support what he has alledgedly done and feel for the alledged victims, how many were there(?) divided by $630, seems nobody was out much money at all although I understand some borrowed the money to pay for the insurance, but the man's life has been turned upside down. Edlin's not a young man, has been banned from doing the only job he has known all his life, may or may not serve 6 months in prison, I think truth be told, the sentence and the banning by CIMA is far too harsh a punishment in relation to the crime. Is an old dog supposed to learn new tricks now to survive the rest of his life? What career path will he be forced to take now? Many of you may not know what it is like to be suddenly  out of the work you are most qualified to perform, and then try to get a job in a sector in which now you suddenly have no experience, all whilst being of a mature age and perhaps not as desirable to learn a new trade! This is devastating for this man's life and future. Anyone who says differently does not know what it is like to be in such a postion, I do however and it has been devastating to my family and our finances, becomes a burden on society perhaps, and devastating to the family unit. Anyone who disagrees with me is on a witch hunt, nothing more! Make an examle out of so and so…..well maybe one day you will be that so and so and feel differently! I hope and pray that Edlin does not serve time for this relatively minoroffence, and that he will find an employer willing to employ him in a position he has no experience performing………a very very hard road in deed!

    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe he should have thought about the consequences if he got caught and what he would do the rest of his life for income if he got banned from the insurance industry.

      He hd work, he committed some offenses, now he cant do that work.

      HIS OWN FAULT!

    • Anonymous says:

      He had his judge and jury and they found him guilty so it is no longer just "alleged" but proven beyond reasonable doubt.

    • Anonymous says:

      There is no 'allegedly' about it.  He has been found guilty.

    • Anonymous says:

      Puhleeez stop being such a crybaby, pull up your pants and take care of your own prpblem. 

  13. Anonymous says:

    60 yrs is a fair judgment lol

  14. The Janitor says:

    11.11 you think mr . Myles will serve a day in HMP? I actually isn't he out already?

  15. Anonymous says:

    One down, 50 -250 to go. 

  16. Anonymous says:

    By by bad guy

  17. Anonymous says:

    And he may get off even easier. The devils amongst us. Lawdy the thieves are thick here. 

  18. Anonymousl says:

    He is on appeal bail and might not spend a night in northward! so what. are these people celebrating ? we still have to for the final result.

    • Jonas Dwyer says:

      I would have never imagined the envy, spitefulness and hatred that exists in this society. It is no wonder that there is a lack of a cohesive family , social and cultural  structures within and amongst Caymanians. When you look at your lack of control over your children, your morals , your social fabric , your economy and your destiny, one begins to sea a slowly desintegrating people who never understood what they could accomplish by being a society that truly worked together as their forefathers did and as the foreigners that they  curse everyday do.

       I sincerely wonder where will this land that was founded upon the seas and established upon the rocks end up.

    • Anonymous says:

      The final result is a foregone conclusion since there is no real basis for an appeal. This is just delaying the inevitable. In fact, he runs the risk of his sentence being increased on appeal.  

      • Anonymous says:

        Then he should pay all the public costs wasted by his attempts to get away with his dishonesty if the court agrees with you.

  19. Anonymous says:

    So I guess the Re-Generation Band will be taking a hiatus for the next 2 months.

    Yes folks 2 months…. 1/3 off for good behaviour and 1/3 off for mandatory outside supervision. Edlin will be out August just in time to see his grand kids back to school…

    Edlin say hi to Joey for me and chillax at Her Majesty expense…. it's easy like Sunday Morning!! 

  20. Living in Hope says:

    Well I hope that now that justice has prevailed, that alot of the wrong doings that's taking place will stop. This may (I hope)make people stop and think twice before doing all the irregularities that are happening around here. Thank you RCIP and Judge Henderson this gives us a little hope.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Not to say that the punishment doesn't suit but had this been an expat he would have been slapped on the wrist and sent home..I am still amazed that you can go to jail for stealling $630 but you can have multiple rounds of ammunition which could kill people and get away with paying a fine.

    • Anonymous says:

      Boo hooo hooo. We are such sad wittle victims. Whaaaaa

    • Anon says:

      The rounds of ammo were left there by accident clearly.  There was no intent.  While this guy was deliberately a criminal.  Killing someone in a car accident is not the same as deliberately hunting down someone to run him over with a car.  See the difference? It's not about expat/non expat! 

      • Anonymous says:

        How do you know there was no intent? Because he said so?

        • Diogenes says:

          Because 1) guy has no known prior connections to Cayman – you think he would just turn up and try sell them on the street 2) he had 50 rounds – he could buy those for $13 in Walmart – you seriously think he would smuggle just 50 rounds ?  Even allowing for the criminal value, off a $13 value base the profit margin would be negligible.  He could get a 1000 rounds in a bag easy with the same risk.  He MAY be a smuggler – but the far more likely explantion is that he is an idiot who forhot to empty his bag.  Selling house insurance to people who do not even yet have a house, who you KNOW do not have a house (because they have asked the Board for support in getting one)  and who may reasonably think that getting a house may depend on your approval is a slightly different order – no way that is accidental.    

          • Anonymous says:

            Having no priors does not mean that you are innocent or that you had no intent. That is simply what you choose to believe. As for the stupidity of his actions, if that were a defence then Myles would not have been convicted either. 

          • Anonymous says:

            Always defending the expat criminal eh, Diogenes? 

  22. Anonymous says:

    Justice has been ser…. Nevermind.

  23. Anonymous says:

    Hopefully Mr. Myles has learned that greed is not always good and that lying to cover up your dispicable ways shows your community what you are truly made of. 6 months…you got off way too easily.

    • Anonymous says:

      Knowing the ugly side of the man, I don't think he did it out of greed. Rather he felt his being Caymanian and in various positions of power made him untouchable. He's been known to say his sole purpose of being on the Immigration Board was to protect Caymanians who couldnt' protect themselves.  As if he was their knight in shining amour. The fact is, he is a true example of I"m Caymanian, I'm entitled. This is why the message being sent by the Courts is so important.

      • Anonymous says:

        Another fact is that another UDP Mac crony bites the dust. What is it with these guys, can't any of them go straight,?

      • anonymous says:

        So now let the same investigators  look at what this convict did for others to get him into that position in the first place? 

        Do not stop the momentum, there is far more yet.

  24. Whodatis says:

    Whoa!!

     

    • Anonymous says:

      Surely it is "Whoa, this is the fault of [insert the British, or Tony Blair, or one of his other pet topics]"

      • Whodatis says:

        Wow … you have submitted yourself to Whodatis – mind, body and soul. I should be flattered, but quite frankly, I am not interested.

        Kindly search for an alternative host – no room here for leeches.

        Thanks,

        Whodatis

      • anonymous says:

        Or steer it towards that popular post that is enjoyed by the rest of the chagos bingo league.

  25. Anonymous says:

    2 Down!!!! Hopefully alot more to come!!!! Make Gov accountable and if guilty send them to Jail.. Finally!!!! 🙂

  26. Anonymous says:

    Edlin you are the wrong color and in the wrong lodge it seems.  All the best and always remember rock bottom is a beautiful beginning.  Never give up in life!!

    • Anonymous says:

      You poor, sad, wrong colored man

    • Anonymous says:

      You are a sad victim/idiot, whatever color you are. Don't be a racist douche bag. 

    • Anonymous says:

      I'm sure those persons at rock bottom, that were conned by Myles, look at every day as a beautiful beginning.  In fact, they are probably grateful that he stepped in to keep them at rock bottom where they could continue to revel.  

    • anonymous says:

      Not much down for him then, as he is also a convicted criminal now as well as in the debt to the cronies who put him there to makemoney.

  27. Anonymous says:

    Really? $630 is all he made? Seems like a complete waste of resources to firstly even prosecute but then to house him at Northward. Shouldn't we try to actually use the resources to fight violent crime?

     

    • Anonymous says:

      So with your logic, I can rob a bank with a gun but as long as I only get a few hundred dollars i get away with a "telling Off" I'm sure the people he conned could have used that little money to feed their family. Good you left your comment Anonymous.. you rightly should feel like and idiot!

    • Anonymous says:

      You give me 600 bucks

    • anonymous says:

      Nice touch, I am sure there was far more made than that and even more to be gained when he was given a position which he clearly wasn't qualified or suitable for.

  28. Anonymous says:

    Sad in both ways.  He should've known better. Shame on him.

    Then more serious crimes get a suspended sentence and the criminals get a slap on the wrist.

     

  29. Anonymous says:

    Justice served.

  30. Anonymous says:

    Not a fair judgement!

  31. Anonymous says:

    Rhaattiiiidddd Brudda Joey Ebanks will have company now.  I can just imagine the religious discussions once these two get together and Mr. Miles "find" God. 

  32. Anonymous says:

    Jail should not be the "fix all" for all types of crime. We as a society need to find alternative types of punishment that apply to different sanarios.  Myles is not dangerous, and should not be locked away.  In fact, the community should engage and interact with offenders to find the reasoning and the thought process that caused the act to prevent further similar cases.  Old Northward doesn't work.

    • Anonymous says:

      1) Greed.

      2) This is IMO the type of person that prison works best for. Its going to be an alarming, opprssive punishment. (And hpefully a deterent to similar greedy people reading this who will think twice before tryng somethign on to make a fast buck.) When he gets out he's going to know he has the skills to not go back there and he's going to try to make sure he doesn't.

    • Anonymous says:

      Alternative types of punishment – how about he has to wear a sign around his neck saying “I use my position to lie to and steal from the poorest members of society”- seems fairly accurate assessment and agree nothing gained by his going to jail. He is punished by the shame and society is protected.

      • Anonymous says:

        I agree with your suggestion.  6 months wearing a sign in George Town would be a better deterrent to any person who attempts to steal, opposed to the government providing meals and shelter, allowing the community time to forget

    • Anonymous says:

      Northward does not have to fix anything. It can also simply warehouse these scum from decent society.

  33. Anonymous says:

    Yes! "Principle of deterrent was paramount" is in order.  But, why so harsh? What about a suspended sentence? The Bible, is certainly fulfilling; "An EYE for an EYE".

  34. Anonymous says:

    As the sentence is less than 2 years, he will be able to run for political office next election. He has clearly demonstrated that he has the same attributes as a number of successful politicians. If he can figure out where to get cheap appliances he has a really good chance of being elected.

    • Anonymous says:

      He can probably come up with a good "have a free fridge but purchase this extended warranty plan" whilst whiling away the hours at Her Majesty's Pleasure.  In that way he can remain true to his values. 

  35. Anonymous says:

    This is a fair sentence, especially if he has lost his job for life. A sad example of greed and wanting to live beyond one's means with fancy car and lifestyle.

  36. Anonymous says:

    What a joke. 6 months?!?! 

  37. Knot S Smart says:

    Oh Dear!

    Joey getting a team-mate…

    If they keep this up they will have to rename Northward to UDP Northward…

  38. Anonymous says:

    Very happy with this verdict.  Shows that nobody is above the law and that Justice has been served.  Won't be showing off the fancy suits and driving around those classic expensive Mercedes for the next 6 months.  Instead he will be a guest at Her Majesty's Prison!!! 

  39. Anonymous says:

    Bye bye bad man.  Go off to where you belong. 

  40. Anonymous says:

    Sleep well tonight Edlin!! Northward is hot hot hot!!!