Denis Lyons, 75, Is Charged with Molesting a Catholic School Boy in the Early 1990s in Costa Mesa
By Larry Welborn
Orange County Register
August 11, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lyons-years-john-2525298-baptist-boy
NEWPORT BEACH — A retired priest pleaded not guilty today to charges that he molested a young boy at a Costa Mesa church more than 17 years ago.
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| Denis Lyons |
Denis Lyons, 75, of Seal Beach, who is free on $100,000 bail, was arrested last month at his Leisure World home and accused of molesting the boy when he was a second and third grade student at St. John the Baptist Catholic School between 1992 and 1995.
Lyons, who was removed from ministry in 2002, was a priest at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church during those years.
He faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted of four felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14, plus a sentencing enhancement that he committed substantial sexual conduct.
Superior Court Judge Derek G. Johnson scheduled a pretrial hearing for Lyons on Oct. 2 and a preliminary hearing on Nov. 5.
Lyons was accused in 2003 with molesting another boy at St. John the Baptist between 1978 and 1981, but county prosecutors dismissed that case after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barred prosecution of some older sex crimes.
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