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Reverend Hardy Lloyd arested over Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial threats
https://triblive.com/local/feds-arre...trial-threats/
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A self-proclaimed “reverend” in the white supremacist movement is behind bars and charged with threatening Jews and targeting witnesses and jurors during the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial.
Hardy Carroll Lloyd, 47, the son of a Shadyside doctor, was arrested at his Follansbee, W.Va., home Thursday on federal charges of obstruction of justice, transmitting threats over state lines and witness tampering, court records show.
“We have monitored more than 1,500 persons of interest,” said Brad Orsini, a senior national security adviser for Secure Community Network, which handles security for Jewish organizations nationwide. “He absolutely is in the top 10 for us.”
Lloyd, who is originally from Pittsburgh, is being held in a Moundsville, W.Va., jail.
“He’s been a known entity in Pittsburgh going back to 2004 — he’s been such a vocal white supremacist who is always calling for violence,” said Shawn Brokos, a 24-year veteran of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office and a Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh security head.
“We have had to be very vigilant, and that’s what we did,” Brokos added. “It’s been a long and time-consuming battle. And we’re grateful he’s finally back in custody.”
d also distributed leaflets and posted emails threatening jurors and families of victims, authorities said.
“This very resilient community has been faced with emails, stickers, flyers — and that’s not something this community should have to endure,” Brokos said. “They’ve already been through enough because of white supremacy.”
May 14, shortly before the trial started, Lloyd called shooter Bowers “the Great Lone Wolf” on the far-right website VK. He also was active on far-right site Gab.com, where Bowers posted before his Oct. 27, 2018, attack.
“Robert Bowers did Pgh a favor,” Lloyd wrote three days later. “Any juror who finds him guilty is guilty of anti-white racism!”
“Shed Jew blood ’til none is left to spill,” Lloyd posted, according to federal officials. “Bowers showed us the way. Time to follow him.”
Lloyd founded The Church of Ben Klassen in 2003 based on “the white racial religion of ‘Creativity,’ ” according to the new affidavit.
The group claimed it didn’t promote white supremacy, instead advocating for complete racial separation. Klassen was a former Florida state legislator who founded a religion based on white supremacy in 1973, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Lloyd’s runs-in with the law started shortly after he formed the group.
He was charged with killing his girlfriend, Lori Hann, on Aug. 3, 2004. She was shot in her face in front of a Squirrel Hill home after police said the two had an argument.
Although investigators were familiar with Lloyd from internet postings and leaflets he distributed preaching violence against nonwhites, Jews and law enforcement, they said Hann’s killing wasn’t ideological.
In 2006, jurors found Lloyd not guilty of criminal homicide but did convict him of carrying a firearm without a license, court records show. He was ordered to serve 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail.
In April 2009, two days after Richard Poplawski shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers in Stanton Heights, Lloyd posted online an email praising Poplawski’s actions, an earlier affidavit said.
“Follow my wolf philosophy as Richard did,” Lloyd wrote.
On Lloyd’s blog, investigators found a photo of him holding a shotgun. That led to a search of Lloyd’s home, where investigators found 10 firearms, including two loaded handguns.
In November 2009, Lloyd was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He pleaded guilty six months later and was ordered to serve 30 months in federal prison.
After being released, Lloyd violated his supervised release, often due to hate speech, in August 2016, December 2017 and August 2019, court records show.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism has been monitoring Lloyd since at least 2006. It says Lloyd’s “church” has a “nominal following” online.
Lloyd also has fought with Goyim Defense League, a white supremacist group responsible for spreading propaganda in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, according to the ADL.
Reaction to the arrest
Jewish officials on Thursday lauded the new charges, thanking the FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia.
“We are made stronger when we work together on our collective security,” said Jeff Finkelstein, who heads the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. “Today’s outcome is the result of longstanding, close cooperation between law enforcement and our community over many years.”
“The offender in this case targeted the Jewish community for years with hate, vitriol and calls for violence — he is well known to the Jewish community,” said Michael Masters, CEO of security group SCN.
“Religious freedom is a bedrock principle in our nation, and we will not allow any individual to undermine it through threatening violence on a member of the Jewish community, or any faith-based community, without repercussion,” Masters said.
“The offender sought to terrorize the community. We now seek justice and accountability.”
U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II from the Northern District of West Virginia called jury trials, such as Bowers’ trial this summer, “a hallmark of the American justice system.”
“Attempts to intimidate witnesses or jurors will be met with a strong response,” he said. “The use of hateful threats in an effort to undermine a trial is especially troubling.”
Lloyd faces up to 10 years in prison for the obstruction charge, up to five years for the threats charge and up to 20 years for the tampering charge, Ihlenfeld said. If convicted, a judge will determine the sentence.
Brokos said Lloyd is facing charges, in part, because individuals outside the Jewish community also reported hundreds of his activities.
She remembered one school teacher who, upon seeing a “(Expletive) the Jews” sticker Lloyd allegedly had placed in Pittsburgh, contacted her.
“That’s not Pittsburgh,” the teacher said, according to Brokos.
“That’s not who we are.”
https://triblive.com/local/feds-arre...trial-threats/
.
.
A self-proclaimed “reverend” in the white supremacist movement is behind bars and charged with threatening Jews and targeting witnesses and jurors during the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial.
Hardy Carroll Lloyd, 47, the son of a Shadyside doctor, was arrested at his Follansbee, W.Va., home Thursday on federal charges of obstruction of justice, transmitting threats over state lines and witness tampering, court records show.
“We have monitored more than 1,500 persons of interest,” said Brad Orsini, a senior national security adviser for Secure Community Network, which handles security for Jewish organizations nationwide. “He absolutely is in the top 10 for us.”
Lloyd, who is originally from Pittsburgh, is being held in a Moundsville, W.Va., jail.
“He’s been a known entity in Pittsburgh going back to 2004 — he’s been such a vocal white supremacist who is always calling for violence,” said Shawn Brokos, a 24-year veteran of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office and a Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh security head.
“We have had to be very vigilant, and that’s what we did,” Brokos added. “It’s been a long and time-consuming battle. And we’re grateful he’s finally back in custody.”
d also distributed leaflets and posted emails threatening jurors and families of victims, authorities said.
“This very resilient community has been faced with emails, stickers, flyers — and that’s not something this community should have to endure,” Brokos said. “They’ve already been through enough because of white supremacy.”
May 14, shortly before the trial started, Lloyd called shooter Bowers “the Great Lone Wolf” on the far-right website VK. He also was active on far-right site Gab.com, where Bowers posted before his Oct. 27, 2018, attack.
“Robert Bowers did Pgh a favor,” Lloyd wrote three days later. “Any juror who finds him guilty is guilty of anti-white racism!”
“Shed Jew blood ’til none is left to spill,” Lloyd posted, according to federal officials. “Bowers showed us the way. Time to follow him.”
Lloyd founded The Church of Ben Klassen in 2003 based on “the white racial religion of ‘Creativity,’ ” according to the new affidavit.
The group claimed it didn’t promote white supremacy, instead advocating for complete racial separation. Klassen was a former Florida state legislator who founded a religion based on white supremacy in 1973, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Lloyd’s runs-in with the law started shortly after he formed the group.
He was charged with killing his girlfriend, Lori Hann, on Aug. 3, 2004. She was shot in her face in front of a Squirrel Hill home after police said the two had an argument.
Although investigators were familiar with Lloyd from internet postings and leaflets he distributed preaching violence against nonwhites, Jews and law enforcement, they said Hann’s killing wasn’t ideological.
In 2006, jurors found Lloyd not guilty of criminal homicide but did convict him of carrying a firearm without a license, court records show. He was ordered to serve 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail.
In April 2009, two days after Richard Poplawski shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers in Stanton Heights, Lloyd posted online an email praising Poplawski’s actions, an earlier affidavit said.
“Follow my wolf philosophy as Richard did,” Lloyd wrote.
On Lloyd’s blog, investigators found a photo of him holding a shotgun. That led to a search of Lloyd’s home, where investigators found 10 firearms, including two loaded handguns.
In November 2009, Lloyd was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He pleaded guilty six months later and was ordered to serve 30 months in federal prison.
After being released, Lloyd violated his supervised release, often due to hate speech, in August 2016, December 2017 and August 2019, court records show.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism has been monitoring Lloyd since at least 2006. It says Lloyd’s “church” has a “nominal following” online.
Lloyd also has fought with Goyim Defense League, a white supremacist group responsible for spreading propaganda in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, according to the ADL.
Reaction to the arrest
Jewish officials on Thursday lauded the new charges, thanking the FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia.
“We are made stronger when we work together on our collective security,” said Jeff Finkelstein, who heads the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. “Today’s outcome is the result of longstanding, close cooperation between law enforcement and our community over many years.”
“The offender in this case targeted the Jewish community for years with hate, vitriol and calls for violence — he is well known to the Jewish community,” said Michael Masters, CEO of security group SCN.
“Religious freedom is a bedrock principle in our nation, and we will not allow any individual to undermine it through threatening violence on a member of the Jewish community, or any faith-based community, without repercussion,” Masters said.
“The offender sought to terrorize the community. We now seek justice and accountability.”
U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II from the Northern District of West Virginia called jury trials, such as Bowers’ trial this summer, “a hallmark of the American justice system.”
“Attempts to intimidate witnesses or jurors will be met with a strong response,” he said. “The use of hateful threats in an effort to undermine a trial is especially troubling.”
Lloyd faces up to 10 years in prison for the obstruction charge, up to five years for the threats charge and up to 20 years for the tampering charge, Ihlenfeld said. If convicted, a judge will determine the sentence.
Brokos said Lloyd is facing charges, in part, because individuals outside the Jewish community also reported hundreds of his activities.
She remembered one school teacher who, upon seeing a “(Expletive) the Jews” sticker Lloyd allegedly had placed in Pittsburgh, contacted her.
“That’s not Pittsburgh,” the teacher said, according to Brokos.
“That’s not who we are.”