Denis Lyons (O.C. Sheriff's Dept.) |
COSTA MESA (KTLA) -- A 77-year-old former Costa Mesa priest is scheduled to appear in court Monday on charges of molesting a youth parishioner in the early 1990s.
Denis Lyons is charged with four felony counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 years ago, court records show.
Lyons is accused of molesting the boy, who was between 7 and 9 years old at the time, when he was at St. John the Baptist School, according to prosecutors.
Lyons' alleged victim, 24-year-old Jonathan Kirrer, says he was molested in 1994 and 1995 when he was in third grade at St. John the Baptist Catholic School.
Lyons was arrested at his home at Leisure World in Seal Beach in July 2009.
Lyons was removed from the church in 2002 after admitting that he had inappropriate sexual relations with adults in 1993. He was also charged with molesting a boy in 1978, but the case was dropped because of a Supreme Court ruling that stopped the prosecution of some older sex crimes.
Several people have accused Lyons of sexual abuse, prompting the Diocese of Orange to pay out $4 million to settle such sex abuse claims.
Denis Lyons is charged with four felony counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 years ago, court records show.
Lyons is accused of molesting the boy, who was between 7 and 9 years old at the time, when he was at St. John the Baptist School, according to prosecutors.
Lyons' alleged victim, 24-year-old Jonathan Kirrer, says he was molested in 1994 and 1995 when he was in third grade at St. John the Baptist Catholic School.
Lyons was arrested at his home at Leisure World in Seal Beach in July 2009.
Lyons was removed from the church in 2002 after admitting that he had inappropriate sexual relations with adults in 1993. He was also charged with molesting a boy in 1978, but the case was dropped because of a Supreme Court ruling that stopped the prosecution of some older sex crimes.
Several people have accused Lyons of sexual abuse, prompting the Diocese of Orange to pay out $4 million to settle such sex abuse claims.
