Ex-Customs Service
chief gets 1 year
for false timecards

Lyons Naone III must
also pay $649 in restitution

Star-Bulletin staff

A federal judge sentenced the former head of the U.S. Customs Service on Maui to 12 months and a day for filing false overtime cards on four occasions.

U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra also ordered Lyons Naone III to pay back $649 for hours he had not worked.

Naone, who served for nearly 15 years as port director on Maui, was convicted in November of four out of 20 counts of making false statements to a government agency.

The 20 charges involved about $4,000 of overtime pay between October 1997 to January 2000.

Ezra recognized Naone's extensive and distinguished history of service in U.S. Customs and as a former Maui police officer who was honored as most outstanding in 1976, but he said he had to impose a sentence that reflected the seriousness of what Naone had done.

"You made serious mistakes, but you have very important redeeming qualities and provided great service to the country and to Customs before this case," Ezra said.

Naone apologized to the court yesterday, saying he has brought shame and embarrassment to the law enforcement community, his ancestors, his culture and his family.

He said his goal as a Customs official was to always "treat others fairly, equally and with dignity" and ensure his inspectors went home safely.

"I did all that but, in this case, went overboard," he said.