Alan Hostetter | |
|---|---|
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Involvement in theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack |
| Criminal penalty | 135 months imprisonment |
Alan Hostetter is an American convicted felon,anti-lockdown activist and founder of the American Phoenix Project who took part in theUnited States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
He was sentenced on December 7, 2023, to 11 years and three months in prison, as well as $2,000 in restitution and a fine of $30,000, for four felonies related to the attack.
On January 20, 2025, after beginning his second term in office, President Trumpissued pardons to roughly 1500 individuals charged with crimes connected to January 6, including Hostetter.
In the 1980s, Hostetter served in theUnited States Army after graduating from high school, during which time he was deployed toWest Germany. He then worked for theOrange County Sheriff's Department in the 1990s and later for the Fontana Police department leaving as a Deputy Chief and becoming police chief ofLa Habra, California, in 2009. He gave up the position due to spinal problems less than a year later, moved toSan Clemente and began a new career as ayoga instructor andsound healer.[1][2]
Following the early 2020 outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic, Hostetter quickly became involved inprotests against Californian lockdown measures.[1] During a protest in late May, he refused to let go of a chain link fence that had been erected to discourage people from parking and congregating near San Clemente Pier, despite police declaring anunlawful assembly. He was eventually arrested after law enforcement cut holes in the fence around his hands, and charged with resisting and obstructing an officer, refusal to disperse, andtrespassing. The incident cemented Hostetter as a leader of the movement and was referred to by locals as "Fence-gate".[2]
He went on to lead several protests, and founded the American Phoenix Project, a nonprofit organisation to support these protests,[1] which spent $50,000 on a lawsuit filed by two organizations run byHarmeet Dhillon against the Californian lockdown policies. The lawsuit was later dismissed.[2] Hostetter also attended a protest outside the house ofCosta Mesa mayorKatrina Foley and spoke at aQAnon conference. He also became increasingly oppositional toCalifornia governorGavin Newsom, and at a July 2020 rally said that theFounding Fathers would violently overthrow him if they were alive.[2]
WhenJoe Biden won the2020 United States presidential election in November, Hostetter began to campaign against what he saw as astolen election. He worked with American Phoenix Project director Russ Taylor, communicating with California-based members of theThree Percenters with plans to bring hatchets, guns and body armor toWashington, D.C. for theJanuary 6 Trump rally.[2] In a speech on December 19, 2020, Hostetter made a speech about members of Congress inWashington, D.C., telling the crowd to "choke that city off, fill it with patriots... We either fix this mess and keep America America, or we become traitors, and those five million people outside the walls are gonna drag us out by our hair and tie us to a fucking lamppost. That's their option."[3][4] Hostetter and Taylor used aTelegram group chat named "California Patriots - Answer the Call Jan. 6" to tell his group to drive to D.C. instead of fly so they could take weapons with them.[3][5]
On January 5, Hostetter spoke at the Rally to Save America in front of theSupreme Court Building.Alice Butler-Short stated at the event that without Hostetter's sponsorship, they would not have their speaker setup. Hostetter claimed in his speech that "we are at war in this country, we are at war tomorrow."[2]
On January 6, Hostetter met up with members of the "DC Brigade"[6] and then attended the"Stop the Steal" rally, but did not go near as he had items the guards would not allow in.[2] He was carrying a hatchet in his backpack,[5] as well as tactical gear, a helmet, knives, stun batons, pepper spray and other gear.[6] He made his way to the Capitol afterDonald Trump's speech, and moved with the mob onto the Capitol's West Terrace, where he took a photo with Taylor.[2] He did not enter the building nor assault police officers during the riot,[1] but used a megaphone to encourage the crowd to push through the police line and breach areas of the Capitol.[5]
Hostetter was arrested in California on June 10, 2021, by theFederal Bureau of Investigation five months after the riot.[2][6] He was indicted alongside five other men; Russell Taylor, Eric Scott Warner, Felipe Antonio Martinez, Derek Kinnison, and Ronald Mele. He was convicted of four felonies including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and entering a restricted area with a deadly or dangerous weapon in an indictment that linked four of his co-defendants with the Three Percenters.[7]
Prosecutors requested a sentence of 151 months for Hostetter,[3] claiming that he was a "terrorist" and that his law enforcement experience meant he should have known better.[1] Taylor, who had pleaded guilty in April 2023 to a conspiracy charge, testified for the government at Hostetter's trial.[5] Hostetter's lawyer was by Bilal Essayli[8] but he represented himself during his closing arguments,[7] during which he made conspiratorial claims that he had been manipulated into participating in the "false flag" riot by government informants and that Taylor had been part of the plot, as well as asserting that thekilling of Ashli Babbitt was "staged" when Babbitt's mother was in the courtroom. He praised Republican candidateVivek Ramaswamy for stating that the riot looked like "an inside job,"[1] and downplayed the violence at the Capitol as "basically the equivalent of a three-hour hissy fit."[7]
He was sentenced on December 7, 2023, to 11 years and three months in prison, plus $2,000 in restitution and a fine of $30,000 by judgeRoyce C. Lamberth.[3][5] His sentence was just shorter than the 12 years recommended by theDepartment of Justice.[1] He was expected to be in prison by January 5, 2024.[5] However, on January 20, 2025, after beginning hissecond term in office, President Trumpissued pardons to Hostetter and roughly 1,500 other individuals charged with crimes connected to January 6th.[9]