Convicted Minister Rev. Henry Lyons
Ponders Fate From Pulpit
March 1, 1999ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Facing a possible seven-year prison sentence, the Rev. Henry Lyons, convicted of racketeering and grand theft, pondered his uncertain future in a safe haven - his church.
The president of the National Baptist Convention USA, who on Saturday was found guilty of swindling millions of dollars, spent Sunday preaching to his congregation at Bethel Metropolitan Church in St. Petersburg.
Prior to services, which were closed to the media, Lyons said: "I've got to sit down with my deacons and with my wife and with my family and see what we're going to do."
He added: "I'll be doing some praying."
Lyons was expected back in Pinellas County Monday for court officials to begin a pre-sentence investigation. He faces three to seven years in prison under state sentencing guidelines. A date for sentencing has not been set.
In addition, the National Baptist Convention USA's board of directors could meet as soon as the middle of this week to decide whether he should be removed from his post.
Lyons has not said whether he now plans to resign. Before his conviction, he planned to seek another term when his expires this September.
Free on bond until his sentencing, Lyons was allowed to go to funeral services Sunday in Gainesville for his 81-year-old grandmother, who died last week.
Before Lyons was fingerprinted, Pinellas Circuit Judge Susan Schaeffer sternly warned the minister, warning that failing to appear for his sentencing "would be disastrous for you."
"I will appear, your honor," he responded quietly.
His subdued voice was one indication of how far the minister's fall from grace was.
Lyons once was best known as a rousing preacher. His pleas from pulpits across the country helped greatly reduce the $5.4 million debt the convention accrued before he was elected president in 1994.
Outside of the church, he wielded vast political clout as leader of a group that claimed to have the largest black church organization in the country.
But state and federal prosecutors investigating the trail of Lyons' money eventually accused him and convention public relations director Bernice Edwards of stealing more than $4 million from corporations wanting to sell cemetery products, life insurance policies and credit cards to convention members.
Edwards was acquitted of racketeering, the sole charge she faced.
But she and Lyons both still face trial in federal court - he on 54 counts of tax evasion, extortion, money laundering and fraud; she on 27 similar counts.
March 1, 1999
Source: Newswire
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