Pennsylvania Man Sentenced for Obstruction of Justice

BUFFALO, NY—United States Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter announced today that late yesterday, November 17, 2009, District Judge David G. Larimer sentenced Loral Huffman, 45, formerly of Oil City, Pennsylvania, and currently in the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections, to 84 months in the Custody of the Bureau of Prisons and ordered him to pay a $500 fine. The sentence was based on Huffman’s November 5, 2008, plea of guilty to obstruction of Justice. Judge Larimer also ordered that Huffman’s sentence be served consecutively to the state sentence Huffman is currently serving after pleading guilty to escape in Erie County in 2008.

In pleading guilty, Huffman admitted that he had fabricated a story about a plot by another federal prisoner to kill or hurt U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa so that Huffman could escape being sentenced by Judge Siragusa in a separate case, fearing that he would receive an extremely long sentence from Judge Siragusa if the case remained in Judge Siragusa’s courtroom. Huffman’s false story resulted in both the U.S. Marshal’s service mounting round-the-clock security for Judge Siragusa and his family and in the Marshal’s Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducting an extensive investigation into Huffman’s claims, which ultimately lead the agents to conclude that Huffman’s story was a complete fabrication.

During the three-plus hour sentencing proceeding, Huffman, who represented himself, conceded to Judge Larimer that he had led a life of crime while describing his past offenses in detail to the Court but claimed that in many instances he had been treated too harshly and that prosecutors and agents with whom had tried to cooperate had often not held up their end of the bargain, arguing that the Court should “discount” the sentence it imposed on him to make up for this.

In sentencing Huffman, Judge Larimer rejected Huffman’s arguments and his plea for leniency, commenting that the sentencing proceeding was the longest he had ever had in his career on the bench and that Huffman had the longest criminal record of any defendant he had ever sentenced.

Huffman will be returned to state custody almost immediately. His current New York State sentence is scheduled to expire in mid-2012. Upon his release from State custody, Huffman will go into federal custody to serve the 84-month (seven-year) sentence Judge Larimer imposed. When Huffman is released he will revert to the supervision of the New York State Division of Parole.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James H. Robertson and the United States Marshal’s Service under the direction of United States Marshal Peter Lawrence. The original case against Huffman, which was dismissed as a part of the plea, was investigated by the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration. The case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony M. Bruce of the Buffalo Office.