Image by Richard Burton from Pixabay 

July 12, 2024 – WASHINGTON – A Pennsylvania man was convicted on Thursday of multiple felony and misdemeanor offenses, including assaulting law enforcement with a deadly or dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Terry L. Allen, 65, of Spring Mills, Pennsylvania, was found guilty by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of felony charges of civil disorder, assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and engaging in physical violence in a restrict building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

In addition to the felonies, Allen was found guilty of two misdemeanor offenses, including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and an  act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

Judge Mehta will sentence Allen on November 14, 2024.

According to court documents and evidence presented during the trial, on Jan. 6, 2021, Allen was among a crowd of rioters who breached the western perimeter of the U.S. Capitol grounds. Video footage taken that day depicts Allen on the West Plaza at approximately 12:58 p.m., carrying a black and red flag on a wooden flagpole approximately five feet long. Video evidence shows Allen then shoving and physically assaulting law enforcement officers on the West Plaza by using his wooden flagpole as a lance, driving it into officers in a stabbing motion.

Later, at approximately 1:56 p.m., Allen is seen on a body-worn camera approaching the police line and holding what appears to be a black metallic pole in one hand and a flagpole in the other. Court documents say that officers then deployed pepper spray against Allen and other rioters in the crowd. Allen responded by throwing a black metallic pole at the officers standing less than ten feet away.

The FBI arrested Allen on July 6, 2023, in Pennsylvania.

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Philadelphia and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 42 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,470 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 530 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.