Posted on: Wednesday, April 11, 2001

Customs overtime pay fraud nets one-year sentence

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

The former head of the U.S. Customs Service on Maui, Lyons Naone III, was sentenced in federal court yesterday to a year and a day in prison after a jury convicted him last fall of four counts of filing false claims for overtime pay.

Lyons, who served as the Customs Service port director on Maui for nearly 15 years until he retired in January 2000, had been charged with 20 counts of submitting fraudulent overtime claims but was acquitted on 16 of the charges.

At his sentencing, Naone told U.S. District Judge David Ezra that he worked the hours for which he requested overtime pay.

However, he said he may have exceeded his authority in assigning overtime work to himself, was reckless in filling out some of the claims and generalized when he should have been specific about the work he did during the hours he claimed overtime.

"I did not intend to defraud the Customs Service, but nonetheless, what I did was wrong," Naone said.

A Native Hawaiian religion practitioner, Naone said his actions have brought shame upon his ancestors, culture and family members. He said he left his "position on the pulpit" after he was accused of wrongdoing and that his conviction made any "chances of a return non-existent."

But after U.S. District Judge David Ezra sentenced Naone, he urged him to continue with the religious work after he is released from prison.

"People make mistakes and people who acknowledge they made mistakes as human beings have something to say to all of us," Ezra said.

He ordered Naone to repay the U.S. government $649.90, the amount of overtime pay Naone was convicted of receiving incorrectly.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong, who prosecuted the case, said the amount may seem trivial except to customs agents and other law enforcement workers who strive to uphold the law every day.

Tong called the fraudulent claims Naone filed "an assault on the integrity of the U.S. Customs Service."

With time off for good behavior, Naone could complete his sentence in less than 11 months.