Centre County man sentenced to federal prison for role in Jan. 6 attack on US Capitol
A Centre County man was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison for throwing a metal pole like a javelin at a police line when a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.
Terry L. Allen, 66, of Spring Mills, was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution (and $520 in special assessments).
He was found guilty in July of five felonies and two misdemeanors following a two-day bench trial. Allen was also found not guilty of a felony assault charge.
He is the third man with known Centre County ties to be convicted and sentenced in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted the process of affirming the 2020 presidential election results. More than 1,500 people have been charged.
Allen could be seen on video shown at his trial picking up a portion of a temporary metal fence and carrying it back into the crowd. After an officer deployed pepper spray in his face, Allen threw the metal pole toward the police line.
The video showed at least one officer flinch as the pole flew through the air. It landed behind the officers, and a loud clang could be heard as it hit the ground. Two sergeants told Mehta at trial that the pole was capable of causing serious injury.
Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of five years and 10 months for Allen, who they said “fought with police at every opportunity.”
“Allen aggressively confronted and shouted in the faces of officers, he used his wooden flagpole to jab at officers, and he found a metal pole and carried it with him until, when the opportunity arose, he hurled it at officers from feet away,” Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Hutton Marshall wrote in a court filing.
The judge found Allen not guilty of assault for his use of the flagpole, writing in his verdict he could not find Allen acted forcibly beyond a reasonable doubt. Ambiguous videos made it difficult to tell the angle Allen jabbed the flagpole, Mehta wrote.
Allen’s defense lawyers cast him as a hardworking man who lives in the mountains of Pennsylvania. They wrote in a court filing he went to the Capitol to “ask questions and find answers about what happened during the election of 2020.”
His lawyers sought a period of home confinement, two years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service. They wrote that he is “incredibly saddened and remorseful about what took place.”
“Mr. Allen was not expecting to be attacked that day,” defense lawyers Kira A. West and Nicole Cubbage wrote in a court filing. “He was expecting to be able to protest. He was supporting everyday Americans’ rights to assemble and speak and thought he was witnessing things as a bystander — not violent member of the mob that was pushing on officers in front of him.”
Allen was arrested in July 2023. When the FBI searched his property, law enforcement found 19 firearms, powerful fireworks, gunpowder and somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 rounds of ammunition.
One of the firearms was an AR-15 featuring an image of Donald Trump in an 18th century military officers’ uniform. It was numbered 450 of 1,000.
Allen’s potential association with any groups was not made clear in court documents. Prosecutors said Allen spoke with investigators about an affiliation with the Oath Keepers, though his lawyers wrote in a filing that he is “not a member.”
Founded in 2009, the group became one of the largest far-right antigovernment groups in the U.S.
It’s not yet known how much time Allen may actually serve. President-elect Trump used the violent siege as a cornerstone of his bid to return to the White House, calling the rioters “unbelievable patriots” and promising to help them “the first day we get into office.”
As president, he will have the power to pardon anyone convicted in federal court. Allen’s attorneys even asked Mehta to push back his sentencing, describing him as a “worthy candidate” to receive a pardon. Mehta denied their request.
“I am inclined to pardon many of them,” Trump told CNN in 2023. “I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control.”
Two others with known Centre County ties have also been charged and sentenced in connection with their respective roles Jan. 6.
Julian Khater, the former owner of Frutta Bowls in downtown State College, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to two felony counts of assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced in January 2023 to six years and eight months in prison, two years of supervised release, a $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.
Khater, 35, is incarcerated at a federal prison in Connecticut and is scheduled to be released in November 2026.
Brian Gundersen, a State College resident at the time of the riot, was found guilty in November 2022 by a federal judge of obstruction and assaulting a law enforcement officer. He was sentenced in July 2023 to 1 1/2 years in prison, three years of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.
His obstruction conviction was overturned in October by a federal appeals court. He’s scheduled to be resentenced Jan. 29.