PARSONS – The family of former state Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry maintains he is innocent of the federal charges and state disciplinary findings against him.
In a letter published Feb. 25 on The Parsons Advocate newspaper’s website, the Loughry family says, “We stand firmly behind the innocence of our husband, our father, our child, our brother and our uncle … as he is not guilty of these crimes nor did he admit guilt.”
In October, Loughry was found guilty on 11 federal charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, making false statements to federal agents and witness tampering. The witness tampering conviction later was dropped. He was sentenced earlier this month to 24 months in prison, and he was ordered to pay fines and restitution in the amount of $11,273. He also will serve three years of supervised probation. He is supposed to self-report to prison by April 5.
And last week, the state Judicial Hearing Board recommended the state Supreme Court follow an agreement signed by Loughry and the state Judicial Disciplinary Counsel. The agreement said Loughry would be disbarred and never seek public office in West Virginia again. Also, the JDC recommended censure, a $3,000 fine and payment of $5,871.12 for the cost of proceeding.
As part of the agreement, Loughry also did not admit guilt to any of the findings by the state panel. But, the agreement states that Loughry admitted there was enough evidence to prove the allegations of two charges of lying to the public, one charge of using a state computer at his home for personal use, four charges of using a state vehicle for personal travel (including trips to The Greenbrier to sell copies of his book “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay For A Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia”) and one charge of being convicted on 10 federal felony counts in October.
“I believe it (the agreement) is in the best interest of myself and the judicial branch at this time,” Loughry said during the Feb. 20 Judicial Hearing Board hearing.
In the family’s letter, they said the Parsons County newspaper had falsely reported Loughry admitted guilt.
“We are appalled at the personal denigration and categorical misinformation as reported,” the letter states, before it also criticizes West Virginia MetroNews. “To use WV Metronews as a primary source of information, when this news organization has proven to solicit inaccuracies, misinformation, and has demonstrated a continued failure to report relevant details, just intensifies the media harassment, sadly, now from our hometown newspaper.”
The letter says residents of Loughry’s native county should stand behind him.
“Tucker Countians should be rallying behind the Loughry family instead of embracing this sensationalized story, which began when the only non-multimillionaire justice on the 2017 Supreme Court was reproached and condemned for alerting the FBI of the scandalous corruption deep within the West Virginia Supreme Court system, which by the way, remains vigorously active,” the letter states. “Allen is a little fish in the big pond, and his story is yet to be written.
“Our family is proud of his courage in pursuing impartial justice, although none was attained. We are proud and will not forget what he has brought to Tucker County throughout the years while working for a governor, a U.S. congressman and as a justice on the Supreme Court. He didn’t forget Tucker County, so we hope that Tucker County doesn’t forget him.”
