Community Corner
Climbing Coach Sentenced to Four Years for Sex with Student
Michael J. Lyons, who pleaded guilty Nov. 30, worked at Earth Treks.
A former climbing instructor from Rockville who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a 14-year-old student, was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.
Michael J. Lyons, who was 31 at the time of the crime, to one count of child sexual abuse on Nov. 30 after he was with a 14-year-old girl who was a member of a competitive rock climbing team he coached through the in Columbia.
Howard County Circuit Judge Louis Becker III sentenced Lyons to 15 years, with all but four years suspended. Lyons was credited with serving 221 days and will serve an additional three-plus years.
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Lyons was charged with one count of the sex abuse of a minor, three counts of third-degree sex offense and one count of the sexual solicitation of a minor, according to court documents.
Daniel Lloyd Montague, 20, a second Earth Treks instructor charged with having sex with the same girl, pleaded guilty at a December trial and was given an 18-month suspended sentence.
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Police said the two instructors had sexual contact with the girl from March to June 2011, according to court documents and testimony.
While Montague will not have to register as a sex offender, Lyons will, Becker ruled Friday.
In an emotional statement, the victim's mother told the court that she believes the actions of Lyons stripped her daughter of her innocence.
"I feel like I have let her down," the woman said.
Patch's policy is that it will not name the minor nor her mother to protect the victim's identity.
The distraught mother said she was appalled at graphic details of the case published by media outlets and said she was proud of her daughter for speaking up.
"My daughter is not to blame," she said.
Prosecutor Susan Weinstein called the victim a "young and impressionable girl."
"She is a victim here—a true victim of a horrible crime that Mr. Lyons has inflicted here," she told the court.
Lyons exploited the girl's desire to have people like her, Weinstein said.
The state had asked for a 15-year sentence with all but eight years suspended.
Howard County Assistant Public Defender Mary Pizzo, in her comments to the court, argued that Becker could entertain a probation-before-judgment ruling, which would allow Lyons to avoid the sex offender registry.
She categorized her client as a young man who, previous to this crime, was a "straight arrow" without so much as a traffic ticket.
Pizzo emphasized that there was no force, violence or coercion in this case.
"He knows that he failed in his responsibility to [the victim]," Pizzo said.
In delivering his sentence, Becker talked of the many "troubling circumstances" of the case.
The sentence determination was not a "simple, easy" one, Becker said, adding that it was his responsibility to weigh the many aspects of the case.
He said he believes there is nothing in Lyons' background to suggest he's a sexual predator but that he also had to weigh what Lyons did to a minor whose parents entrusted her care and custody to him.
"I'm here to fulfill legal obligations," Becker said.
In addition to four years in prison, Lyons faces five years of supervised probation upon release and other conditions, including an order to have no contact with the victim.
State sentencing guidelines, which take into consideration a variety of factors such as whether the victim sustained injuries and whether a weapon was present, called for four to nine years, according to T. Wayne Kirwan, spokesman for the Howard County State's Attorney's Office.
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