Former priest, 77, faces trial on suspicion of molesting boy in 1990s

The trial of a former Costa Mesa priest accused of molesting a 7-year-old parishioner is scheduled to begin Monday.

Denis Lyons, 77, is charged with four felony counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 years old, according to court records.

Lyons is accused of molesting a boy in the church rectory and sacristy at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa, according to archived reports from the Costa Mesa Police Department and Orange County district attorney's office. 

Lyons, who had been a resident at Leisure World in Seal Beach, was arrested July 20, 2009, while playing cards at a community center, according to the Daily Pilot.

Police allege he molested a boy four times while the boy was a second- and third-grader at the Costa Mesa church's school between Jan. 1 1992 and Dec. 31, 1995, according to the release.

-- Lauren Williams, Times Community News

Photo: Denis Lyons. Credit: KTLA News