TAMPA BAY: Lyons codefendant dies in custody

Bernice Vernell Edwards, whose controversial relationship with the Rev. Henry Lyons ended with both of them in prison, died Monday while in federal custody in Illinois. She was 46.

Edwards, who was serving a nine-month prison sentence for violating her federal probation, suffered from a "chronic pulmonary condition," according to officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Edwards had a history of health problems including stomach ailments, and was in the hospital for about two months before she died. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Edwards played a lead role in the downfall of Lyons, the leader of the National Baptist Convention USA who was convicted of swindling millions of dollars from the convention.

The two journeyed through much of the mid 1990s in a misbegotten world of luxury. But allegations of an affair and an arson fire at a Tierra Verde home they shared, triggered a series of criminal investigations.

Paul Sisco, one of Edwards' lawyers, described her as "more intelligent and more articulate" than people thought. She was street smart, he said, and not afraid to go toe-to-toe with business executives in a male-dominated environment.

"She was my most interesting client," said Sisco. "She had a lot of characteristics that we should all aspire to, and others that we should not."

Lyons and his wife, Deborah, met Edwards in 1993. Lyons, pastor of Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church, was elected president of the National Baptist Convention USA in 1994. He hired Edwards as a publicist, despite her recent conviction for embezzling $60,000 from an alternative high school.

Edwards used different personas, depending on where she was and who was with her, according to court documents and people who came in contact with her.

In Milwaukee, she was known as Bree Jones, the down-on-her-luck single mother of Jessica, Jesse and Joshua. (Her fourth child, Justice, would be born in 1999.) She could barely hold on to her $50,000 Milwaukee home because she was struggling so much to pay the real estate tax, city officials thought.

In Florida, after Lyons hired her, she portrayed herself as rich, educated and influential on a national scale. She was so rich, Edwards told one insurance executive, that she chose to work for the NBC for free. Executives at a funeral home conglomerate thought Edwards owned hundreds of radio stations. She told another person that she had degrees from Columbia University, the Ivy League school in New York City.

In reality, Edwards dropped out of a Mississippi high school. The father of her first three children died. She owned no radio stations and had filed for bankruptcy four times.

"I thought she was a good mother and I wanted to help her," Max Lehninger, a Wisconsin man who loaned her money, said in 1998. "She was a phony, and I was a damn fool."

She had a prodigious appetite for jewelry and clothes. She once spent $60,000 on designer clothes at a Milwaukee boutique, court documents revealed.

In time, she and Lyons would share ownership of a $700,000 Tierra Verde house, a Lake Tahoe timeshare, a Rolls Royce, jewelry and a $135,000 Mercedes-Benz. Edwards once described herself as "a little kid in a candy store" as the money flowed in.

The ride became much rougher on July 6, 1997, when Lyons' wife set a fire at the Tierra Verde home. She told police she was angry that her husband was having an affair with Edwards. At the time, Lyons was in Nigeria leading a church group that included Edwards. She and Lyons denied having anything more than a business relationship.

The fire and subsequent investigations set off two years of damning revelations about Lyons' financial dealings. Eventually, both Lyons and Edwards had to answer to charges in federal and state court.

On Feb. 27, 1999, a Pinellas County Circuit Court jury acquitted Edwards on all charges. The same jury convicted Lyons of racketeering and grand theft for swindling millions of dollars. Lyons remains in prison near the end of a 51/2-year sentence.

In March 1999, Edwards pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of tax evasion for failing to report more than $500,000 in income. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop 23 other charges against her.

"I'm very remorseful for the acts I pleaded guilty to and I take full responsibility for them," Edwards told the judge as she wiped tears from her eyes.

The judge sentenced her to 21 months. She served 13 months before moving to a halfway house.

Last year, while out on probation, she was accused of misleading a church minister for whom she worked, making false statements to lease an apartment and obtaining a loan for $3,700 from a business owner in Akron, Ohio - all probation violations.

"I was hoping she was finally rehabilitated," Leonard T. King, her Baptist minister, said at the time. "If she used her mind and wisdom in a positive way, she could really be a great person. But I guess she just couldn't wait to get back to the lifestyle she loved."

In September, U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore sent her back to prison for nine months for violating probation.

"You are not an honest person," Whittemore told Edwards.

Throughout the ordeal, Edwards' family spoke little with the media. They could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Edwards' attorney on the probation matters, Timothy Fitzgerald, said he found Edwards to be kind and "very positive." While she didn't do everything right, Fitzgerald said he thought she was unfairly tarred by the "whole Lyons matter."

"She had very strong spiritual beliefs," he said. "I know she believed she was going to a better place."

- Times news researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Graham Brink can be reached at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com

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