CALIFORNIA
Patch
Diocese: “There’s nothing we can say” as Denis Lyons pleads guilty to molesting a child at his former Costa Mesa parish in a deal that will likely land him less than a year in jail.
A 78-year-old former Catholic priest from Leisure World pleaded guilty today to molesting an altar boy in the early to mid 1990s at St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa, beginning when the victim was 9 years old.
Denis Lyons, who left the priesthood in April 2004, is expected to be sentenced on May 25 to a year in jail and five years probation. Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno, who accepted the plea agreement the defendant reached with prosecutors, is also expected to order Lyons to complete 400 hours of community service or pay a fine. Lyons could have faced up to 14 years in prison had he gone to trial.
“The victim has asked to resolve this case without going through a highly publicized trial,” Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown told the judge. Another alleged victim, who Lyons was not charged with molesting, was willing to testify to corroborate the named victim’s testimony, but he also wanted to avoid a jury trial, Brown said.
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