Department of Justice

ALPINE – Yesterday a Monahans man was sentenced to 120 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm announced United States Attorney Ashley C. Hoff.

According to court documents, on December 13, 2021, Jacob Lyon, 29, was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Lyon was previously convicted for prior felonies including armed robbery, theft of a firearm and burglary of a habitation.  On May 28, 2020, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted a consensual search of Lyon’s Monahans residence, which he shared with his co-defendant Rita Ornelas. Agents found two handguns and a rifle.

“Mr. Lyon has long been victimizing the citizens of Texas and the United States of America. Thanks to the investigative and prosecutorial efforts of ATF and our Project Safe Neighborhood partners, Mr. Lyon’s days of criminal activity and delinquent behavior are now over,” said ATF Dallas Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey C. Boshek II.

On September 16, 2021, co-defendant Rita Ornelas, 28, of Monahans pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.  She was sentenced on December 16, 2021, to 46 months in prison.

The ATF, Texas Rangers and Monahans Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Kennedy prosecuted the case.

This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

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