ROSEVILLE, Calif. — A Rocklin man convicted of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is now teaching at an educational youth ministry in Roseville.
The Sacramento Bee first broke the story on Friday, but in an interview only with ABC10, the pastor who hired the man says he’s focused on redemption.
Tommy Frederick Allan, of Rocklin, is pictured in video from the New Yorker in the U.S. Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, carrying a U.S. flag and flagpole he took from elsewhere in the Capitol.
In Aug. 2022, he admitted to that and stealing documents from a desk in the Senate Chamber.
He officially pleaded guilty to one felony count of “Obstruction of an official act.”
A federal Judge sentenced him to 21 months in prison, which he has now served, followed by three years of supervised release.
“We're about redemption and reconciliation. Everybody's got a past. Everybody's got a history,” said Matthew Oliver, who owns House of Oliver in Roseville, where he met with ABC10 Wednesday to talk about Tommy Allan.
Oliver is also pastor of The Family Church, which employs Allan.
“He is one of our team members that work with helping grow and develop and see our students thrive,” Oliver said.
He’s referring to students at Liberty Learning Ministries, an educational Christian youth ministry through The Family Church.
“Parents are thrilled to have him. Students are thrilled to have Tommy be a part,” Oliver said. "We have an amazing hiring process, an amazing background check process and we go a through stringent process of making sure that all of our team members are the right members for our community... And, I think if we look at people's histories and past, we can start to pick people apart and use that to hold against them. But what we want to do is be a people who are about looking to the future."
Allan has been a part of The Family Church since before Jan. 2021, Oliver said. All of the Liberty Learning team members have children in the ministry, including Allan and his wife, Oliver said.
"We haven't had a single parent or family frustrated or angry over this," Oliver said, referring to Liberty Learning Ministries employing somebody convicted of a federal felony related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. "The whole point, the process is to help people get to that place where they're giving back to our community. And that is what he is doing now."
ABC10 asked if Tommy Allan would also speak with us. Oliver said he’s not ready.
“I think that Tommy has a story to tell that I think is going to be powerful when the time comes that he shares it,” he said. “Tommy has taken such bold steps to see healing and restoration. He doesn't want to see his family go through it again, live through it again and be attacked again. And I think, right now, the goal is: let's move forward and heal.”
ABC10 asked if Allan has ever talked about feeling remorse for his role in the insurrection. Oliver said that was Allan’s story to tell and directed ABC10 to publicly available court documents.
In a letter Allan wrote to a federal judge, asking for leniency in his sentencing, he said, in part:
“I am writing this letter to acknowledge responsibility for my behavior on January 6, 2021, to express sincere remorse and to apologize to the victims… I was wrong. I should have never entered the capital building or engaged with the crowd... My actions were inconsistent with my morals, beliefs, and overall approach to life; honesty, integrity, hard work, family, country, and God. I deeply regret my behavior and feel profoundly ashamed,” Allan wrote in the letter, filed Dec. 2022.
“He's not interested in going back to that time at all. He wants to move forward,” Oliver said.
Originally facing eight counts, Allan’s plea agreement dropped all but one — the felony ‘Obstruction’ charge — in exchange for his guilty plea.
However, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is raising some questions. In June of this year, the Supreme Court ruled the U.S. Justice Department had improperly applied the ‘Obstruction’ charge to people who stormed the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors, however, are urging judges not to undo the convictions of people convicted of ‘obstruction’ as part of a plea agreement.
It’s unclear whether or how that might affect Allan’s case. The latest entry in his federal court docket is from February 2023, well before this year’s Supreme Court decision.
ABC10 asked Oliver if Allan is hopeful he might get a pardon if former President Trump gets re-elected. That’s when Oliver said Allan is not interested in going back to that time and is focused on the future.
Allan is one of six Northern Californians convicted or charged in the insurrection.
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