Pittsburgh Jews urged to be vigilant as neo-Nazi released into community
Hardy Lloyd was sentenced to two years for inciting violence against Jews last year, but has now been released.
By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDSA neo Nazi attends a rally in Budapest October 23, 2009. The words, the motto of the S.S., read "my honor is my loyalty"(photo credit: LASZIO BALOGH/REUTERS)
The Jewish community in Pittsburgh has been warned to be vigilant following the release from prison into the community of a known white supremacist.Hardy Lloyd has been jailed three times over the last two decades, most recently in August 2019 for violating the terms of his parole by dropping neo-Nazi leaflets throughout the city's East End, according to CBS Pittsburgh, and inciting violence in response to a proposed ban on assault weapons via an online blog."Anyone who supports such laws must be targeted, and their families murdered. Lone Wolves GET BUSY," he wrote on the blog on April 2, 2019.In a second post, made the next day, he wrote that the law should be defeated, adding: “If not, well, disobey and kill, my Lone Wolves,” adding: “Target: Jewhill!” The latter appears to be a reference to the Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, home to the Tree of Life Synagogue, where 11 worshipers were killed on October 27 the previous year."Anybody who is calling for action is certainly somebody who is more of a threat than somebody who is sharing views on social media,” said Shawn Brokos, director of community security at the Jewish Federation.“The notion is to be vigilant, to be mindful, but also to feel empowered because we’ve done such great work trying to build and protect our community," she added.At Lloyd's hearing last year the court heard his lawyer describe his client as an "adult with a child's mind," according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.His father also told the judge that his son had been seeing a therapist and had made significant progress in seeing that he has "real options outside of hate.""There must be a balance between therapy and punishment," Jon Lloyd said. “My son's illness is as real as a broken bone or colon cancer."And Lloyd himself told the judge "I'm not going to make excuses. I apologize for the anger, pain and confusion I've caused the community."
However, the defense's plea for a sentence of one year imprisonment followed by supervised release was denied by US District Judge Arthur J. Schwab, who ordered Lloyd to serve two years.He was released from federal prison on September 29, and will now spend three months at the Renewal work-release center in downtown Pittsburgh.“I would hope that he is getting mental health counseling, and the appropriate rehabilitation, but as a community, we need to be vigilant," Brokos said. "We have no way of knowing for sure."
