CHARLESTON — Suspended state Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry faces additional federal criminal counts in a second superseding indictment handed up Tuesday by a federal grand jury.
The updated indictment now names Loughry in two additional counts in the area of using a Supreme Court vehicle and a government fuel card for personal use. There had been 13 of the 23 counts focused on that alleged illegal activity. Now there are 15 counts. The full indictment now includes 25 criminal counts.
The vehicle and fuel card use were named as mail fraud charges in the original indictment, but federal prosecutors have now changed it to wire fraud.
Scandals came to a head this summer when Loughry was first charged by the state Judicial Investigations Commission and then by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In each case, Loughry was accused not only of misusing state resources but, worse, lying about the acts to investigators. The first superseding indictment had to do with conversations Loughry allegedly had with an FBI agent about the Cass Gilbert Desk. It’s alleged Loughry lied about how the desk got to his home.
Loughry was named in seven of the 11 Articles of Impeachment approved by the full House of Delegates Monday and early Tuesday. He faces a removal trial before the state Senate that could begin in mid-September. His federal criminal trial is scheduled for early October.
Loughry was suspended from the state Supreme Court in June by a group of fill-in justices following a 32-count statement of charges from the state Judicial Investigation Commission alleging violations of the Judicial Code of Conduct.
