WASHINGTON – A former chief of police with the La Habra Police Department in Orange County, California, who is a prominent COVID-19 restrictions critic and activist, was sentenced Thursday in Washington D.C. to more than 11 years in federal prison for his role in the the U.S. Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.
Alan Hostetter, 59, used to reside in San Clemente, California, but relocated Poolville, Texas. He was convicted in July in a non-jury bench trial before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Now the judge has sentenced him to 135 months in federal prison and 36 months of supervised release, FOX 11 Los Angeles reported.
Lamberth ruled that Hestetter was guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, according to court records.
Hestetter was joined at the U.S. Capitol by co-defendants Russell Taylor, Erik Scott Warner, Felipe Antonio “Tony” Martinez, Derek Kinnison, and Ronald Mele.
Taylor pleaded guilty in April and was next due in court Jan. 18. He faces 51 to 87 months in prison.
Warner, Martinez, Kinnison, and Mele, were convicted in November and await sentencing.
Hostetter was La Habra’s police chief fom 2009 through 2010 when he took disability retirement.
The defendants were accused of hatching a plan following the 2020 presidential election to halt the certification of the Electoral College vote in Congress on Jan. 6, reported FOX 11.
“Hostetter’s prison sentence is further demonstration of the two-tier system of justice presently being applied in the United States,” according to Law Officer editorial staff members. “There clearly appears to be evidence for extremely harsh punishment related to alleged law violators with a conservative ideology, and lenient penalties applied to defendants who fit the Leftist agenda.”
According to ABC 7 Los Angeles, roughly 1,200 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Roughly 900 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a judge or jury after trials. Over 700 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving prison sentences ranging from three days to 22 years.
“There has been nothing close to this when the nation erupted in riots following the 2020 death of George Floyd — crime we might add that caused $1 – $2 billion in property damage and resulted in an untold number of injuries and the permanent collapse of many businesses,” Law Officer editorial staff noted. “On a percentage, far fewer people were held accountable, and those who were prosecuted did not receive the harsh sentencing being doled out to the defendants involved in violations of law at the Capitol.”
