Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has released a campaign advertisement citing a neighbor’s written statement that accuses Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson of being naked outside her East Pennsboro Township home within view of a child. No charges have been filed, and the photograph the neighbor says she took has not been made public.
“Disgraced TV reporter Janelle Stelson has been exposed, literally,” the ad’s narrator says. “First Stelson got caught making a degrading racial slur live on TV. Stelson got exposed using illegals as campaign workers. One Stelson illegal was even arrested for exposing his genitals in public.” The narrator goes on to say, “Now police have been called to investigate Stelson for exposing herself totally naked to a neighborhood child. Janelle Stelson. She’s not fit to serve.”
The underlying complaint, first reported by PennLive on October 21, comes from Stelson’s neighbor Sharon Orr, who says she called police on August 14 around 3:15 p.m. after seeing Stelson “walking around outdoors” with her “breasts and buttocks fully exposed and in plain sight of my minor aged grandchild.” Orr says she photographed the scene and claims to have witnessed similar incidents before.
Orr’s statement says East Pennsboro Township police told her Stelson described wearing “a nude bra and panties” that day. Orr says the photo she took contradicts that account, but she has not released it, and the Perry campaign has acknowledged it does not have a copy.
East Pennsboro Township police confirmed to PennLive that officers responded to the complaint at both homes but would not release any reports or records. No criminal charges have been brought against Stelson over the allegation. In an August 26 letter obtained by Breitbart News, Police Chief William S. Diehl denied a Right-to-Know request for incident reports tied to an address on Oyster Mill Road, citing Pennsylvania exemptions for criminal and noncriminal investigative records. The letter did not describe what, if anything, the records contain.
Stelson’s campaign manager, Alma Baker, called the ad’s claim fabricated. “This false accusation is a pathetic, desperate attempt by Scott Perry to rescue his failing campaign, with easily disproven lies,” Baker told PennLive, adding that Stelson “has been a victim of stalking and harassment before” and “now she is a victim of Perry’s supporters making up totally unsubstantiated claims to smear her reputation.”
Neighbors offered conflicting accounts. PennLive reported that Perry campaign signs line Orr’s driveway and are attached to a railing facing Stelson’s house, just a few feet away. When a reporter approached her home, Orr threatened to call police and declined to discuss her statement or produce the photo, saying, “Nobody has talked to me about even releasing or talking to anybody” in the media.
A neighbor on the other side of Stelson’s property, Steve Dillon, disputed the account. “All I know is that she wasn’t [naked],” Dillon told PennLive. “She was just sitting in her back yard or her back deck.” Dillon said he wasn’t home at the time in question but has regularly seen Stelson sitting outside “clothed” during breaks from campaign work. He speculated that flesh-toned clothing may have been mistaken for nudity, saying full nudity “would not be in character with what I’ve gotten to know of her.” He also noted that a creek bordering the properties sees regular canoe and kayak traffic, raising the question of why no other witnesses have come forward.
Other claims in the ad
The advertisement also points to the arrest of Chimaobim Adedayo Igbojekwe, a Nigerian national accused of exposing himself near a park in East Pennsboro Township. Breitbart News reported October 7 that Igbojekwe, who entered the U.S. legally in 2017 but overstayed his authorization, told police he was waiting to hand out Stelson campaign flyers and had a stack with him. Prosecutors later dropped the indecent exposure charge and one disorderly conduct count, and he pleaded guilty to a remaining disorderly conduct charge. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him into custody October 1.
Stelson’s campaign has denied employing him, and attorney Adam Bonin said he never worked for the campaign, its vendors, or as a volunteer. The Associated Press reported it remains unclear whether another organization paid him as a canvasser. The Department of Homeland Security criticized Stelson over the reported connection, and Citizens for Ethics in Washington has since filed a complaint alleging DHS violated the Hatch Act by issuing that statement.
The ad surfaces amid a broader exchange of attacks in the rematch between Perry and Stelson, who came within roughly 5,000 votes of defeating him in 2024. Breitbart News reported September 23 that Stelson has run ads accusing Perry of backing a “huge new tax that makes everything more expensive and hits working people the hardest” over his support for the FairTax Act of 2025, which would replace federal income, payroll, estate and gift taxes with a national sales tax and eliminate the IRS. The National Republican Congressional Committee has said Stelson’s ads mischaracterize the plan by omitting the taxes it would eliminate.
Breitbart News also reported October 20 that Stelson appeared at an event featuring a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein while backed by WelcomePAC, a political action committee that has spent more than $100,000 on her campaign and has received more than $1.8 million since 2021 from Democratic donor Reid Hoffman. Hoffman has acknowledged visiting Epstein’s private island, saying his contact with Epstein involved fundraising for MIT, and has not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein. At the event, Stelson said she would “take on the culture of corruption across the government” if elected.
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