Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 2, 1990                   TAG: 9007020249
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LUCION TO ACT AS OWN ATTORNEY DURING APPEAL

Lucion, acting as his own attorney, has appealed the 10-year racketeering sentence he was given in federal court in Roanoke last week for cheating 80 investors out of more than $2 million.

Joel Hirschhorn, the Miami attorney who defended Lucion, said he can't afford to handle the appeal because he may not even get paid for what he's already done.

Hirschhorn, the last of a string of attorneys Lucion hired, billed Lucion $50,000 plus expenses. But Hirschhorn may see little of that because the amount he gets is up to the federal bankruptcy court. And Hirschhorn is just one of more than 100 people claiming what little is left of the money Lucion stole along with his former business partner, Elmer Craft.

Craft, a Vinton accountant, pleaded guilty to his part in the fraud scheme and was sentenced last week to 8 years in prison.

Hirschhorn said Lucion has some good grounds for appeal, but he wouldn't reveal what they are. He said he might be able to help with Lucion's appeal if the federal courts can clear the way for him to get paid. Lucion's appeal notice did not set out any specific grounds.

Lucion, a 40-year-old former Roanoke real estate salesman, has 29 days of freedom left unless he can persuade a federal judge to let him remain free on an appeal bond.

That is unlikely, court officials say, especially since he no longer has any money, stolen or otherwise, to put up for bond.

Technically, he is free until July 30 on a $300,000 bond. But there is no money to back that bond because the federal court seized most of his money and possessions last week to help pay a $1 million fine. Court officials say Lucion had about $500,000 left when he was sentenced.

Lucion could have been imprisoned immediately last week after he was sentenced, but U.S. District Judge James Turk allowed him to remain free until July 30 to give him time to close his business affairs in Miami, where he moved three years ago.

At one time federal prosecutors considered Lucion a flight risk, arguing that he may have hidden $500,000 or more in some Caribbean island bank.

But by the time Lucion was sentenced, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser had changed his mind. He said Lucion had spent much of his ill-gotten gains on attorneys and there was no evidence that Lucion had hidden any money in offshore banks. In addition, Strasser said, Lucion didn't seem to be the kind of person who could deal with life on the run.

Michael Duncan, the federal probation officer handling Lucion's case, agrees.

Lucion will have to serve three to four years before being eligible for parole, and that probably isn't long enough to risk fleeing the country, Duncan said.

"I don't think he'll run. Of course, who knows . . . We will know sooner or later."