April 1, 2022 - An Alabama man was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for federal and local firearms offenses stemming from the discovery of weapons in his pickup truck parked near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Lonnie Leroy Coffman, 72, of Falkville, pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2021, to two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm, a federal offense, and to carrying a pistol without a license, a District of Columbia offense. According to court documents, Coffman traveled from Alabama to the District of Columbia several days prior to Jan. 6 and parked his red GMC Sierra pickup truck at the 300 block of First Street, SE, on the morning of Jan. 6. Less than half a mile away in the U.S. Capitol Building, a joint session of the U.S. Congress was scheduled to meet in the afternoon to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

Coffman admitted in the plea agreement that he exited the pickup truck at 9:20 a.m. and walked in the direction of the U.S. Capitol Building, and towards a rally near the National Mall. Inside the pickup truck were several loaded firearms within arms-reach of the driver’s seat, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, large-capacity ammunition feeding devices, a crossbow with bolts, machetes, camouflage smoke devices, a stun gun and a cooler containing 11 mason jars filled with ignitable ingredients for Molotov cocktail incendiary weapons. Coffman also carried a loaded handgun and a loaded revolver as he walked around the area that day. A search of Coffman’s residence in Alabama later that month led to the discovery of 12 additional mason jars containing ignitable substances, each constituting the component parts of Molotov cocktails.

Coffman did not have a license to carry a pistol in the District of Columbia and had not registered any firearms or destructive devices in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, as required by law.

Coffman has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 6.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Friedman for the District of Columbia and Henry Cornelius for the Northern District of Alabama prosecuted the case, with valuable assistance provided by Trial Attorney Taryn Meeks of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Source: DOJ Release