Crown opens case against alleged pimp

Wayne Carlos Myles

(CNS): In what is believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in Cayman, Wayne Carlos Myles (39) appeared in Grand Court on Monday facing charges relating to pimping and taking money from sex-workers. Myles is accused of running a “stable” of at least 32 women and offering them to some 15 customers, charging up to CI$500 a time for sexual services. Crown counsel Eleanor Fargin told the court that the case is based largely on phone records uncovered during a separate drug investigation. Myles has denied all nine counts of living or attempting to live off the earnings of prostitutes over a two-year period from mid 2014 to 2016.

As she opened her case against Myles, Fargin said that there would be no evidence from the prostitutes or even the men paying them, and the crown made it clear they intended to avoid identifying the sex-workers involved. She said the trial was solely about “the control, direction or influence” that prosecutors say Myles had over the women and the money they were earning for the sexual services, and no judgments would be made about the morality or otherwise of prostitution.

Based on the documented conversations, various messages and texts on two phones seized during a drug case against convicted dealer, Alex Ebanks, inquiries led police to believe that Myles, who they say is also known as “Beenie”, was promoting the sex-workers through images, including some x-rated graphic pictures sent to potential customers.

He was then negotiating the price of their services, ranging from around CI$200 to CI$500 per session for what was described as a sleepover, as well as organising meeting places and taking a cut of the women’s earnings, according to the prosecution’s case.

Myles is also said to have used the prostitutes himself, paying them much less than he appeared to be charging others, adding weight to the allegation that he was taking a cut of the money from the paying clients.

The evidence against Myles comes from a phone seized from him which was linked to the nickname “Beenie”, and other documents that show the phone belonged to him and was being used by him to send the relevant messages to people seeking the services of the sex-workers he was controlling. There is also evidence from a second phone seized from Ebanks that supports the case, the prosecution contend.

However, Myles has denied all charges, refuting that his nickname is “Beenie” or that the phone was his.

The case continues.