Pastor pleads not guilty to lewd act

Deepa Bharath

A Catholic Church official on Wednesday said she is not surprised

that a former Costa Mesa pastor on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to

molesting a local teenager 25 years ago.

Shirl Giacomi, chancellor of the Diocese of Orange, said

68-year-old Denis Lyons, who served as pastor of St. John the Baptist

Catholic Church on Baker Street for 18 years, had admitted to

“improper behavior” with adults in the past, but never with children

or young adults.

Lyons had made that admission in 1979, when he was a pastor at the

Costa Mesa church, she said.

“He went into counseling and evaluation for that,” Giacomi said.

“But we have never had evidence of the behavior he is being charged

with.”

The church evaluated Lyons and considered him “no risk,” she said.

The Orange County district attorney’s office last month charged

Lyons with one count of performing a lewd act with a child and four

counts of oral copulation. Costa Mesa Police arrested Lyons on April

25 at his Seal Beach home.

Lyons spent all of his years as a priest in Los Angeles and Orange

counties, but remained the longest time in the Costa Mesa church --

between October 1978 and January 1996.

Prosecutors say the victim was about 13 years old in 1979 when the

alleged crimes happened. The victim was sent to Lyons for counseling,

according to a detailed report the district attorney’s office

released. The report says the victim told officials that Lyons

engaged in sexual acts with him during these counseling sessions.

The report also says Lyons molested the victim’s brother and that

the two men reported the alleged crimes to a representative of the

Catholic Church in 1995. The victims said they have had at least

three meetings with Catholic Church officials.

Giacomi said the church did receive the 1995 complaint from the

brothers and sent Lyons on an “eight-month treatment and evaluation,”

after which he was determined to be “not at risk” to young people or

children.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Costello, who is prosecuting the case,

said normally in such cases there must be proof of “substantial

sexual conduct.”

She said the prosecution in this case had four witnesses other

than the victim who have corroborated his account.

“This is a very strong case,” Costello said.

Lyons is free on $100,000 bail.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].