News
Criminal
Apr. 23, 1999
Suspended Prosecutor Returned to Work
SAN FRANCISCO - Assistant U.S. Attorney John Lyons, suspended from work since November, has returned to regular court duties as a prosecutor in Oakland based on a preliminary recommendation by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, according to Matt Jacobs, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
The decision by U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller ends Lyons' more than 120 days on paid administrative leave but does not end the office's review of his handling of a major marijuana-smuggling case.
Jacobs said Wednesday that Lyons has been back on active duty handling cases for a couple of weeks.
Jacobs said he did not know when or if any further recommendations would be made in a final report from the Office of Professional Responsibility, which must be informed of any allegations of misconduct by federal prosecutors.
Lyons was removed from all his cases initially for 30 days Nov. 22, 1998, in response to his handling of the marijuana-smuggling prosecution of Thanong "Thai Tony" Siriprechapong. Lyons learned in September 1996 that the case agent, former Customs agent Frank Gervacio, accepted a $4,000 kickback from a government informant who had just received $110,000 from the government for his help in the case.
Lyons waited nine months before disclosing the details to the court in June 1997, at a time when intense plea negotiations were under way and Thanong at one point tentatively agreed to plead guilty to some counts.
It was revealed in court documents earlier this year that Lyons contacted the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department in May 1997, asking an attorney there who was investigating Gervacio to delay any charges against him until after an anticipated guilty plea by Thanong. The Public Integrity Section reviews allegations of criminal wrongdoing by federal employees.
The revelation of the kickback and Lyons' delay in reporting it to the court angered U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who ordered the information made public. That launched a new round of defense efforts to get the case tossed out of court.
Walker has pending before him a motion to dismiss the case based on alleged government misconduct.
Gervacio has since pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of illegally supplementing his salary and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and restitution. He has left the Customs Service.
Lyons was replaced as prosecutor on a 9-year-old Thanong investigation by Mueller in September 1998, one month after Mueller took over as head of the office.
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Pamela Mac Lean
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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