A Centre County man was arrested on Friday on federal felony charges for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Department of Justice accused 64-year-old Terry L. Allen, of Spring Mills, of using a flagpole and later a metal pole to attack officers after breaching the western perimeter of the Capitol with a crowd of rioters.
According to a statement of facts filed by an FBI agent, video evidence showed Allen at about 1:05 p.m. shoving officers on the West Plaza, then using a 5-foot wooden flagpole as a lance, driving it into them in a stabbing motion.
Body-worn camera video from the Metropolitan Police Department later showed Allen at 1:56 p.m. approaching a police line with the flagpole and a black metallic pole, according to the filing. After law enforcement deployed pepper spray, Allen allegedly responded “by throwing what appears and sounds consistent with a black metallic pole at the officers standing less than ten feet away.”
Capitol, police and open-source video captured Allen wearing a white sweatshirt with colored images and lettering, a green backpack and a camouflage “Trump” hat while carrying the flagpole on the West Plaza starting at 12:58 p.m.
“Allen was also recognizable that day from his long, white beard, though his facial hair was at times covered by a black head covering or gaiter,” an agent wrote.
Two witnesses were able to identify Allen from images when his face was not covered and items he had on him.
One identified Allen in June 2022 from social media photos and videos. That witness also provided screen captures from a November 2020 event in Washington, D.C. that appeared to show Allen “with the same distinctive black Trump flag and tan tactical gloves he carried and wore on Jan. 6, 2021,” according to the filing.
The other identified Allen during an April interview and told agents Allen “has a stockpile of guns, food and propane,” an agent wrote.
A state police trooper who was shown images of the suspect in February also identified Allen after recognizing him from a traffic stop.
Allen is charged with felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds. He also faces misdemeanor counts of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or on restricted grounds and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder.
He made his first appearance Friday in in the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania. The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. field offices and prosecuted by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
According to the statement of facts, Allen was charged with aggravated assault in 1984 after he repeatedly slammed a State College police officer’s head into the pavement during an altercation. He pleaded guilty and served two years in jail.
A 2011 complaint to the FBI alleged Allen possessed a fully automatic machine gun. “…The allegation was never fully resolved, because there were semi and fully automatic versions of the same weapon and the complainant couldn’t differentiate, and Allen was never interviewed,” an agent wrote.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested for crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the Capitol. Allen is the third man with Centre County ties to be charged in connection with the riot.
Julian E. Khater, the former owner of Frutta Bowls in State College, pleaded guilty in September to two felony counts of assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced in January to nearly seven years in federal prison, which at the time was the longest sentence handed down for anyone charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol.
Brian Gundersen, who resided in State College at the time, was found guilty in November of obstructing the congressional vote to certify the Electoral College results and assaulting a law enforcement officer. He has not yet been sentenced following multiple motions to continue by his federal public defender.
