U.S. Rep. Scott Perry rents two district offices from a developer charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a York County Republican, rents two district offices in central Pennsylvania from a developer who was charged with attacking police officers with a flagpole during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Lowell Gates, 63, has an extensive portfolio of properties, including buildings in office parks in Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg where Perry has offices and is also a lawyer. A listing for Gates in the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania said he was admitted to practice law in 1986 but does not currently have private clients.

Gates was charged two weeks ago with six felony and misdemeanor counts, including assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Jay Ostrich, Perry’s district director and spokesperson, did not respond to requests for comment.

Perry led the charge on the House floor on Jan. 6 in an attempt to throw out Pennsylvania’s electoral votes while echoing then-President Donald Trump’s lies about election fraud in the state.

FBI agents used a search warrant last year to seize his cell phone as part of a wide-ranging investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 election. That investigation became the basis for one of the four criminal indictments now filed against Trump.

Gates’ connection to Perry’s offices was first reported Thursday by The Keystone.

Gates, who runs Linlo Properties with his wife, Linda, also did not respond to requests for comment. The couple have given Perry’s campaign $17,050 since 2014.

Perry has rented office space from Linlo near Harrisburg since January 2019 and added a Linlo-owned office near Mechanicsburg this year.

The Harrisburg rent is $3,925 per month, while the rent in Mechanicsburg is $1,714 per month, according to the U.S. House quarterly statement of disbursements.

Perry will spend nearly $68,000 in public funds this year to rent property controlled by Gates.

Federal officials said two videos, including one from a law enforcement officer’s body-worn camera, captured images of Gates waving a flag in support of Trump, attached to a long pole, which he used to hit police officers in the Capitol’s West Plaza.

“Gates stooped down to pick up something, which he then threw at the group of police officers,” the criminal complaint filed against Gates said. “Shortly thereafter, Gates raised his flagpole like a spear and lunged at the officers, striking them three times.”

Gates, who was wearing a brown jacket that day, became known as the #brownjacketjabber in social media circles where online sleuths tried to identify Jan. 6 participants.

FBI agents who interviewed Gates at his company office in Camp Hill in October 2022 reported that he said he watched part of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech before walking to the Capitol, where he was exposed to chemical spray during the melee that ensued.

But Gates told the FBI “he generally had a lot of fun” that day, the complaint said.

Gates had another run-in with law enforcement in April 2020, when he was arrested about five miles from his home in Mechanicsburg for disorderly conduct.

A summary citation said Gates “did create a physically offensive condition by exposing his genitals in public, which serves no legitimate purpose.”

Court records show Gates pleaded guilty two months later and paid $192 in fines and court fees.

Gates ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the State House in 2008. He and his wife regularly make donations to Republican candidates and organizations. In 2022, they gave state political action committees $30,000, including $20,000 to State Sen. Doug Mastriano of Franklin County for his unsuccessful bid for governor.

Mastriano also attended Trump’s speech on Jan. 6 while busing in a group of his supporters. He walked to the Capitol after the speech and was photographed beyond the boundaries set up by police that day.

Mastriano insisted he did nothing wrong that day but resisted being interviewed by the congressional committee that examined the Capitol riot. He met with the committee in a teleconference for less than 15 minutes in August 2020 while refusing to answer questions.