Alan Hostetter, who was found to have carried a hatchet during the Capitol attack, cited Vivek Ramaswamy's suggestion at Wednesday's GOP debate that Jan. 6 was an "inside job."
WASHINGTON — A former California police chief who called for the execution of Donald Trump's political enemies, joined the U.S. Capitol attack and then spread conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison Thursday.
Alan Hostetter was found guilty in July on charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering or remaining on restricted grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and disorderly or disruptive conduct on restricted grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He represented himself at a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, who sentenced him to 135 months Thursday.
Hostetter, who was the chief of the La Habra, California, Police Department in 2010, was arrested in June 2021.
WASHINGTON — A former California police chief who called for the execution of Donald Trump's political enemies, joined the U.S. Capitol attack and then spread conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison Thursday.
At a hearing Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mariano said that Hostetter had made himself a "poster child for Jan. 6 conspiracy theories" and that he spent time "promoting the dangerous lie that Jan. 6 was a false flag operation."
He said that he believed crisis actors and federal informants were involved, that the attack was a “false flag event" and that the death of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt was faked.
“Once the Ashli Babbitt psy-op falls, this whole thing becomes undone,” Hostetter said, adding he believed there were “hundreds, if not possibly thousands,” of government informants in the crowd that day.
Witthoeft, who got a meeting with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy this year and frequently attends Jan. 6 court hearings, told Hostetter that her daughter was, in fact, dead.
Their four co-defendants — Erik Scott Warner, Felipe Antonio Martinez, Derek Kinnison and Ronald Mele — were all found guilty of felony obstruction of an official proceeding and other charges after a trial last month.
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