Falkville man gets prison sentence for Capitol-related weapons crimes
Special to the Enquirer
The Falkville man who was arrested Jan. 6 after pleading guilty to federal and state weapons charges was sentenced April 1 to 47 months in prison.
According to court documents, Lonnie Leroy Coffman, 72, of Falkville traveled from Alabama to the District of Columbia several days prior to Jan. 6, 2021. He parked his red GMC Sierra pickup truck in 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 his plea agreement that he exited the pickup truck at 9:20 a.m. and walked in the direction of the U.S. Capitol Building, toward a rally near the National Mall. Inside the pickup truck were several loaded firearms within arm’s 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 canning 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 later that month led to the discovery of 12 additional 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 was sentenced in the District of Columbia by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in two separate criminal cases, one brought in the District of Columbia Jan. 7, 2021, and the other brought in the Northern District of Alabama and transferred to the District of Columbia for purposes of plea and sentencing.
Coffman had pleaded guilty Nov. 12, 2021, to two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm, a federal offense, regarding the component parts of Molotov cocktails discovered in his pickup truck in Washington, D.C., and at his residence in Alabama.
Coffman has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 6, 2021. He will be placed on three years of supervised release following his prison term.
