Says he has found God
Former Electricity Regulatory Authority chief Joey Ebanks has apologized for conning the public and admitted to struggling with drugs for nearly 20 years.
The former political hopeful and radio show host came clean about his drug problem after pleading guilty in Summary Court Tuesday to using cocaine.
Ebanks also appeared in Grand Court on Friday when he admitted scamming his former employers out of around $100,000, spending a large chunk of the cash on iPhones and iPads.
He told the Compass on Monday he was a “changed man” after finding God and had reversed his initial not guilty pleas in an attempt to make amends.
“I tricked people. I tricked my family into believing I was innocent and that’s not so. I want to apologize to everyone who supported and believed in me,” he said.
“If I go to jail, that is God’s will. I had to do the right thing.”
Ebanks will be sentenced March 13 in Grand Court for 17 charges of obtaining money and property by deception, making documents without authority and forgery during his time as managing director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority.
A separate sentencing hearing in Summary Court will follow on March 27 for two drug-related charges – possession of a utensil used in the preparation of the controlled substance, cocaine, and consumption of cocaine. Ebanks entered guilty pleas to both charges Tuesday.
A social inquiry report has been ordered ahead of the sentencing hearings.
Ebanks, who had loudly protested his innocence until his about-turn in Grand Court on Friday, said he had an epiphany of sorts on Dec. 11 last year. He said he had done a lot of soul searching and “talking to God” and decided that he needed to make things right, saying his salvation was more important than his freedom.
“By the grace of God, I am a changed man. What I am doing now is following God’s will. I admitted my faults and my wrongs and, in so doing, I have entered the relevant pleas,” he said.
He said he had been using drugs and alcohol on and off for two decades but was now kicking the habits and dedicating himself to God.
“Sin led me to drugs, drugs got me to stealing, and stealing got me to court. God is going to get me through it,” he added.
He said he regretted some of the pronouncements he had made on Facebook and on his radio show and insisted that that part of his life was in the past.
“I’m not there to point fingers anymore. It is not for me to do that.”
He said he felt an overwhelming sense of relief at coming clean and was prepared to take the consequences.
He urged others in authority who might have similar secrets to do the same.
“Go back to church, ask for forgiveness, let it end now. If they think it won’t lead them here, they are mistaken,” he said.
Related Videos
This is a cautionary tale about the impact that illegal drugs can have on an individual, their immediate family, and wider public.
Say NO to illegal drugs!
Amazing how GOD always enters the picture AFTER they are caught.
There’s a lot of cautionary tales about illegal drug use out there. This is nothing new. Maybe we should consider doing the right thing and decriminalizing them, especially if law enforcement isn’t going to put forth a good effort to stop their importation and look the other way when they know who controls the drug trade in Cayman.
The way I see it, Mr Ebanks was a fully functioning member of society who only got dragged down by virtue of the fact that his habit was arbitrarily considered illegal. The drugs themselves didn’t seem to destroy his life and if they were legal he surely wouldn’t have had to steal to afford them.
Mack Boland I agree with your comments about what drugs will do to people their families and the public.
But there is always space for repentance and forgiveness from God for what ever we do.
So my comments would be is this; for those of us who have known Joey Ebanks, and believe that there is a God, let us try to assist and encourage Joey in his new beginning. One thing I always say, and that is We never know when something will happen to us our children our Grand Children, or close friends Think about it. What Joey done was wrong, but there is a God who is willing to forgive him. So now I say, because he has became a child of God, let God handle it from here on, and whatever punishment God chooses we will have to accept.
Everyone’s comments here are respected, as we are all entitled to our opinions. Well let me air mine at this moment. There are many other Caymanians like Joey who are hiding but it takes a lot of courage to admit and come clean for the wrongs that he has committed. It would have been better if he had done so in the beginning, but human beings in general would do exactly what he did before he admitted, but maybe not as loud and forceful as he was; like having a radio show, putting stuff up on facebook and youtube.
Joey, I hope your actions of coming clean will speak volumes to those who are secretly hiding. It is rather sad what has happened but the consequences must be suffered.
I feel for his family, especially his immediate family, such as his wife and children.
Mack Boland, and do what? Say YES to legal drugs? ALthough it seems pretty clear that SOME drugs that are illegal, and have been for years, are actually less harmful than ones we as humans create and CHOSE to be legal(cigarettes, and the thousands of pills that are legal) Point being: Illegal drugs or Legal drugs makes no difference. Like someone else mentioned, he was fully functioning, and evidence of his use was not visible (drooping skin, red eyes… other tell-tale signs) but he is under pressure because his choices have been deemed illegal by another human.
Tim Smyth – how exactly did it take courage to do what he did? He was about to go to court, with evidence making it pretty obvious he was a drug user. He didn’t really have a choice, it would have come out in court anyway and made him look even more ridiculous.
Bob William hit the nail on the head.
Ms. Jenny, courage is the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or with confidence, resolution and bravery.
In life when some human beings are faced with adversities, even when the evidence is sometimes staring them in the face, they become frightened and lie because of various reasons.
Therefore, it took courage for him to admit because he has come to a point in his life, where he has had an epiphany or has finally realized that he has done some terrible things and had no other choice to finally admit it based on the evidence.
I can only imagine the emotional pain it must have caused him to finally admit everything; admist the turmoil he has caused a lot of people and the lying.
Well he now has to face the consequences; if he had admitted it from the beginning, it would not have been this bad. Let us hope and pray that that does not happen to any of us because we do not know the future and do not know what we would do, if we were in that situation. We should never say never, because human beings are simply dust and we can be tempted in many ways and also find God after we are caught.
Northward is full of some very courageous men in that case. Heroes one and all!
You say epiphany, I say he got busted. Let’s agree to disagree on that point.
I am not particularly religious, but I am human, so let me go on record now (to God too, if he is reading these comments) and say that I will never obtain tens of thousands of dollars worth of iPads using deception.
Ms. Jenny no worries, yes we agree to disagree, as we are all bloggers and have our opinions. Joey needs to be punished for his crimes; it is atrocious and there is doubt about it. Yes, I agree that Northward is indeed full of courageous men.
I am glad that you fell adamant that you will never obtain tens of thousands of dollars worth of IPads using deception.
You appear to be an upstanding member of society and I believe you are, honestly. However, Joey appeared to be that individual as well and look what happened.
My dear, as I say never say never because we never know what we might do in the future. No one knows the future. I am sure many moons ago, you did not know you will be where you are today…come on..
My point exactly…none of us know what will happen to us or what we will do in the future. It may not be IPads but something else.
@ Jenny. I am not disputing the fact that Joey got busted, we all know that; even Stevie Wonder can see that. He did indeed reach an epiphany in his life because he was in denial and finally had to admit to his actions. He needs to be punished severely, there is no doubt about it.
We as human beings reach a denial stage at some point in our lives, at different intervals; some severe, some are mild.
We are all different and process pain and fear differently. My sympathy is only to his immediate family and children, as well as those persons he hurt; such as the public and other individuals.
We agree to disagree 🙂
One thing I have seen repeated here in Cayman by many persons with good jobs making what most would describe as above average income, is breach of trust by stealing.
I call it walking with millionaires, Since this has gone far beyond keeping up with the Jones. How can anyone seeking public office be so misguided is beyond me.