This story first appeared in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
White supremacist Hardy Carroll Lloyd was sentenced in a federal courtroom in the Northern District of West Virginia on Wednesday to 78 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Lloyd, formerly of Dormont, was living in Follansbee, West Virginia, at the time of his arrest on charges of obstruction of the due administration of justice, transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce, and witness tampering. All of the charges were related to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter trial.
He pled guilty to those charges in September.
According to the Department of Justice, Lloyd wrote social media posts, website comments and emails threatening the jury and witnesses during the trial. He also placed, or had others place, stickers and flyers in predominantly Jewish areas of Pittsburgh — which directed people to a white supremacist website he runs — containing threats and antisemitic messages.
Lloyd, who often refers to himself by the unearned monikers “reverend” and “doctor,” faced up to 10 years in prison for the obstruction charge, up to five years for the threats charge and up to 20 years in prison for the tampering charge.
The white supremacist has been in and out of prison since 2004 when he was arrested for killing his girlfriend. Acquitted of the murder, he was found guilty of illegal firearm possession and sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
In 2017, he was sentenced to 13 months in prison and nine months of supervised release. Upon release he relocated to Austin, Texas, and, in 2022, the Texas Department of Public Safety offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to his arrest after he posted a series of threatening comments online and promised to carry a firearm onto the Texas State Capitol grounds.
At the time of his most recent arrest, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said that Lloyd attempted to obstruct the federal hate crimes trial of the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history.
“His guilty plea underscores that anyone who attempts to obstruct a federal trial by threatening or intimidating jurors or witnesses will be met with the full force of the justice department,” Garland said.
Shawn Brokos, the director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said the organization is grateful for the “dogged work of law enforcement and federal prosecutors who aggressively pursued the case,” as well as the judge.
“We can rest easier with him in federal prison and are pleased to be able to close this chapter on Hardy Lloyd. That said, we will continue to monitor him while in prison,” she said.
