White supremacist Hardy Carroll Lloyd won’t be seeing the outside of a prison cell anytime soon.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Mazzone ordered that Lloyd be detained following his Aug. 29 indictment on charges related to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s trial.
Formerly of Dormont, Lloyd has been living in Follansbee, West Virginia. He was arrested on Aug. 10, after the FBI filed a complaint against him in the Northern District of West Virginia. He was indicted on charges of obstruction of the due administration of justice, transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce and witness tampering.
Lloyd made threatening social media posts, website comments and emails toward the jury and witnesses during the trial, according to court documents. He is also accused of placing, or having others place, stickers and flyers in predominantly Jewish areas of Pittsburgh, directing people to a white supremacist website he runs, containing threats and antisemitic messages.
Lloyd’s trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 31 before U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey. He 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.
This is the latest chapter in a long line of arrests for Lloyd.
First charged in 2004 with killing his girlfriend in Squirrel Hill, Lloyd was acquitted of the murder but found guilty of illegal firearm possession. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
After his release, Lloyd bragged about the murder of his girlfriend online and taunted her family with violent lyrics to songs he penned about her death.
In 2017, he was sentenced to 13 months in prison and nine months of supervised release for using public computers at libraries in Mt. Lebanon and Dormont to order martial arts weapons and to watch videos of women being abused. He was also recorded giving the Nazi salute at a Mt. Lebanon protest and distributing flyers in the city’s East End.
On Oct. 6, 2020, Lloyd was released from prison after serving 24 months for violating his probation, which prohibited him from accessing social media or communicating with anyone to promote terrorism. He relocated to Austin, Texas.
In 2022, the Texas Department of Public Safety offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Lloyd’s arrest after he posted a series of threatening comments online promising to carry a firearm onto the Texas State Capitol grounds.
Shawn Brokos, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s community security director, said she was grateful to the entire Pittsburgh community and law enforcement for their help in providing information leading to Lloyd’s arrest.
“Federation is grateful to our law enforcement community, as well as all of our community members who had a role in bringing Lloyd to Justice,” Brokos said. “Today is a great day for justice, and it is reassurance that he is now behind bars and no longer poses a threat to our Jewish Pittsburgh organizations or individuals or the Pittsburgh community, in general.” She urged anyone who sees anything suspicious to report it to law enforcement and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting by the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and the Pittsburgh Union Progress.
