In the Rectory and in the Sacristy, California Catholic Daily, July 28, 2009

In the Rectory and in the Sacristy

California Catholic Daily
July 28, 2009

http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=7abdc883-b5c5-432f-93fb-5eaf7bc5daf9

Retired priest of Orange diocese arrested on felony child-abuse charges in sexual molestation allegations dating back to 1992

Police arrested a 75-year-old retired priest of the Orange diocese on July 20 as he was playing cards at Leisure World in Seal Beach, the Orange County District attorney announced in a press release. Fr. Denis Lyons was charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a boy in the rectory and the sacristy of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa between 1992 and 1995, the district attorney said.

Fr. Lyons had previously been charged in 2003 with the repeated sexual abuse of another boy between 1978 and 1981, but those charges were dismissed following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a California law extending the statute of limitations in such cases was unconstitutional. In addition, said the district attorney, two other alleged victims of the now retired priest provided corroboration of the molestations but charges were never filed because of the statute of limitations. The three boys, said the district attorney, attended parish school at St. John the Baptist, where Fr. Lyons served as a priest.

Following his arrest, Fr. Lyons was booked into the county jail at Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach on $100,000 bail, charged with four felony counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14, said the district attorney. In addition, a charge of “substantial sexual conduct with a child” was added, which would require a mandatory sentence of 14 years if Fr. Lyons is convicted. According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Fr. Lyons posted bail and was released from jail at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 23.

In addition to working as a priest at St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa, Fr. Lyons also served at St. Edwards the Confessor in Dana Point and at St. Mary’s by the Sea in Huntington Beach, the district attorney said. Investigators have asked that anyone with information pertinent to the case or anyone who believes he or she may have been a victim of sexual abuse by Fr. Lyons to contact the DA’s investigative supervisor, Tim Craig, at (714) 347-8558, or Costa Mesa detective Mike Manson at (714) 754-5360.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Orange diocese earlier this year announced it had reached a settlement with a 24-year-old man who sued the diocese, alleging he had been abused repeatedly by Fr. Lyons while he was in the second grade at St. John the Baptist parish school. KTLA News reported, “Several people have accused Lyons of sexual abuse, prompting the Diocese of Orange to pay out $4 million to settle such sex abuse claims.”

Ryan Lilyengren, a spokesman for the diocese, told the Times that Fr. Lyons had been removed from active ministry in 2002. "Rev. Lyons has not been permitted to return to ministry or the Diocese of Orange in any public capacity since his removal," Lilyengren told the Times.