The Molotov Man
Meet Lonnie Leroy Coffman. There are more than 685 defendants charged for events occurring on January 6, 2021, so I use occasionally a descriptive name as a unique identifier. I have to keep them straight, too.
Lonnie Coffman faces seventeen (17) federal counts for items in his ownership and/or possession on January 6 of – among other things, Molotov cocktails – in the immediate proximity of the U.S. Capitol, the Cannon House Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building, the Capitol South Metro Station, and the Republican National Committee Headquarters.
The essential story, laid out in FBI Affidavits, is that at 9:15 a.m. on January 6, Coffman parked his truck at the “300 block” of First Street, Southeast. Coffman exited his truck, and walked away towards the U.S. Capitol.
At 12:47 pm, the United States Capitol Police responded to the report of a possible explosive device near the Republican National Committee Headquarters, and, shortly thereafter, at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters.
“In connection with securing the area,” USCP came upon Coffman’s red truck from Alabama, saw the handgun on the passenger seat in plain view, and searched the vehicle. USCP consulted with BATFE, and the Molotov cocktails were identified as destructive devices.
At 6:30 pm, on the 400 block, Coffman approached “law enforcement officers” (unspecified) to request to get to his vehicle. An unnamed female was driving Coffman in a blue sedan (no indication of her name or whether she is charged). Coffman stepped out of the vehicle at the behest of officers. A Smith & Wesson handgun was found in one of his pockets; a derringer-style handgun, in the other. Coffman was formally arrested on January 7 and has been held, pending trial, since.
The FBI provided an Affidavit in support of the Criminal Complaint on January 7, the same date the Arrest Warrant was signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Harvey. The government prevailed on its January 12 motion to have Coffman held over in prison pending trial. A Grand Jury indicted Coffman on seventeen federal counts by January 14.
The DOJ motion for detention pending trial lays out what was recovered on a search of Coffman’s truck:
loaded 9mm Hi-Point handgun
loaded Windham Weaponry rifle [possibly model R16FTT, the SRC Heavy Barrel, referenced in documents an “M4” basis its M4A4 flat top type upper receiver, and the ammunition inventory, which included 223 x 5.56]
loaded Hatfield Gun Company SAS shotgun
several magazines loaded with more than ten rounds of rifle ammunition
hundreds of rounds of ammunition
crossbow with bolts
several machetes
“camo smoke” tubes
stun gun
11 mason jars containing a flammable liquid (described by Coffman to be gasoline with melted Styrofoam)
lighters and rags
A search of Coffman’s person revealed
loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun
loaded .22 caliber North American Arms revolver
A background check on the firearms showed none were purchased through an FFL using the Form 4473.
Coffman had apparently been living out of his truck in the WDC area for the week prior to January 6. He was described by family members in interviews with law enforcement and the media as a Vietnam veteran with a history of depression. There is a line entry in the court docket report on Coffman’s case, dated May 27, as a “medical/mental health alert” issued to the Department of Corrections, but with no further detail.
Okay, with that much straight-line detail, let’s consider a few abnormalities to what I’m looking at. First, although Coffman’s case is listed in the DOJ January 6 website, he faces no charges in connection with January 6. On March 29, the only date for which there is a transcript from any of the court appearances, his lawyer remarks “All of his charges in his indictment are individual acts. There has been no allegation of a – a link with anyone else.” According to various newspaper accounts, Coffman proceeds from his truck towards the U.S. Capitol on January 6, but faces no charges in connection with the same. No trespass. No b&e. No conspiracy. A handgun in each pocket, and a truck parked one block from Speaker Pelosi’s office at the Cannon House Office Building containing firearms, smoke tubes, a crossbow, several machetes, and eleven Molotov cocktails, but no January 6 charges.
Second, there is only one transcript available from all of the court appearances. In the cases of all other defendants I have reviewed, there are transcripts all over the place, multiple of which I’ve already used in my analytics and covered in media interviews and blogs. Regarding Coffman, there are no transcripts for appearances January 7 arraignment, January 12 detention hearing, March 17, April 21, or May 27.
Next, multiple documents from the case weren’t filed publicly into the PACER system, including documents 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18. Every document filed in a federal case into the PACER system is automatically numbered by the computer, sequentially. In Coffman’s case, there are gaps in the numbering. No numbered entry that says “under seal,” for example, which is not common, but is not uncommon. There is simply no entry – at all. I’ve never seen that before.
Several of the invisible documents were expressly relied upon by the Court in its denial of a pre-trail release reconsideration ruling, specifically documents 12, 15, 16, and 17. The Judge references them by number throughout her decision. Document 15, by the DOJ, apparently includes that Coffman had been “previously identified” – as early as 2014 – as a participant at Camp Lonestar, “a reported gathering place for Texas militia groups that patrolled the border for illegal aliens.” Coffman is also referenced in the May 2021 Court order as “a member of a militia group from Southeast Texas, known as the American Patriots.” Documents obtained through a warrant search of his home are described by the Judge to include references to the “Southwest Desert Militia.”
Coffman is from Alabama. A “GPS tracking device [was] found in Mr. Coffman’s truck” and tracking data included that Coffman on December 11, 2020 traveled to the home of Senator Cruz, called Cruz’s office, and requested to meet with him. This, too, stands out as distinct from other of the January 6 defendants, yet little is made about it. For example, no restraining orders are requested or issued as part of the case.
Consider also the massive gaps in the paperwork that describes Coffman’s activities on January 6. You’ve got a man “loaded for bear,” as the expression goes, a block from Speaker Pelosi’s office, who simply walks away and leaves his truck unattended all day? The FBI narrative on Coffman ends when he gets out of his vehicle at 9:15 am. DOJ paperwork does no more than describe Coffman as exiting the vehicle and walking in the direction of the U.S. Capitol, alone. It then comments that he “gathered with a crowd in the vicinity of the Capitol building.” Then nothing, until 6:30 pm when he shows up near his truck with an unnamed female.
How does that make sense in the context of the minute-by-minute charges and paperwork facing January 6 defendants? The records are so detailed concerning the movement of other defendants that one of the so-called “Oath Keeper defendants” has been nick-named by me as “The Four Minute Man” because DOJ laid out the precise minute he entered the Capitol and the precise minute he left the Capitol – four minutes later.
On May 4, 2021, in what is called a “Minute Order,” the Judge spontaneously directed the government to provide information “to the extent feasible” about the “female driver.” If the government did respond to the Court’s order, it’s not in paperwork filed in public view. Instead, shortly thereafter, there’s an immediate rush to settlement.
Fourth, this case went into plea negotiations but no plea deal has gone on the record and into public view. The Court’s 24-page decision that denied reconsideration of pre-trial release was strong, going so far as to write “Furthermore, there is also record evidence to suggest that Mr. Coffman personally participated in the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol, while he was armed.” The Judge’s leap is defined with as little information as I write herein. To go from these sparse details of his day to “personally participated?” The Court did back down from a few sentences later in the same order, writing “…was at least proximate to the dangerous Capitol riots…”
So why isn’t the Court insisting on information about Coffman for the course of that entire day? Why isn’t the Court asking the DOJ why Coffman isn’t charged relative to the events of January 6 if he was actually there, and participating, and armed? Why isn’t the DOJ putting together photographs and videos of Coffman at the Capitol from any one of its 515 building CCTVs, if he was there? For that matter, why isn’t any journalist?
Judge Kollar-Kotelly sums up her opinion that “In sum, the record evidence outlined above convincingly demonstrates that the nature of Mr. Coffman’s offense conduct in this case is overwhelmingly serious.”
The plea reveal on the record has now been adjourned from September 29 to October 26 to November 12.
Who is Lonnie Coffman and where are the terms of his deal? So many questions about The Molotov Man. So little hope of getting answers in the event of a deal.
Coffman Case No.: 1:21-cr-00004
