US officials face sentencing in BLM fraud case

BILLINGS (AP) — A senior official in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management faces sentencing in federal court today for covering up for a subordinate who kept drawing government pay after leaving the agency for a job in Montana.

Prosecutors are recommending at least two years in prison for John Grimson Lyon of Clifton, Virginia.

The former director for the BLM's 31-state Eastern States Region was convicted by a jury in March of wire fraud, false claims and theft of government property.

The charges followed an investigation that revealed Lyon's deputy at the BLM, Larry Denny, left his gover...