Former police chief sentenced to 11 years in prison over January 6 incident

A federal judge sentenced Alan Hostetter, former chief of the La Habra Police Department in California, of conspiring with others to bring weapons to the U.S. Capitol to more than 11 years in prison Thursday.

A retired California police chief was sentenced to 135 months — just over 11 years — in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

After representing himself at his trial earlier this year, Alan Hostetter was convicted of conspiring to obstruct Congress' certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory, bringing a hatchet onto Capitol grounds, and disorderly conduct. 

While Hostetter stood on the steps of the Capitol, he stopped short of entering the building and did not assault police officers during the day. He represented himself at a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, sentenced him to 135 months.

During the Republican Presidential debate Wednesday night, Ramaswamy said that Jan. 6 "now does look like it was an inside job," while Hostetter said during his trial that he believed "that the entire thing was staged." Additionally, Congressman Clay Higgins says over 200 FBI agents were embedded within the crowd on Jan. 6.

Hostetter, who was found to have carried a hatchet during the attack, brought up Ramaswamy's debate comments at his sentencing hearing Thursday.

“These conspiracy theories are no longer fringe,” he said, noting Ramaswamy’s comments. “The election was stolen. You have presidential candidates saying that openly during the debate. At some point, the truth is going to be coming out.”

Hostetter also noted House Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to release Jan. 6 video.

“Choke that city off, fill it with patriots, and then those people behind the walls of the Senate and the House are gonna be listening to us chanting outside those walls,” Hostetter said in a speech before people entered the Capitol on January 6. “And they’re gonna realize we have one choice. 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 f---ing lamppost. That’s their option.”

In a video he recorded in November of 2020, Hostetter said, “Some people, at the highest levels, need to be made an example of an execution or two or three. Tyrants and traitors need to be executed as an example so nobody pulls this s--- again,” referring to the alleged ballot fraud as investigated in the 2022 documentary 2000 Mules.

Federal prosecutors had sought more than 12.5 years in federal prison, claiming that Hostetter conspired, collected weapons, and traveled to Washington with the plan of using the threat of violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

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."

Hostetter said at the hearing that he believed Jan. 6 was a setup by the CIA, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security. He said that he thought 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 fake.

Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by police as she was climbing through a window just outside the House chamber. Hostetter said he doesn't believe Babbitt was killed and that the reports of her death are part of a "psyop."

Babbitt's mother was in the court watching Hostetter's hearing. She told CBS News she was offended by Hostetter's words, but disagreed with the sentence length, calling it excessive.

“Once the Ashli Babbitt psyop 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.

Hostetter also stated that he believes Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes—who is serving 18 years in federal prison—is one of the many government assets used at the insurrection.

Hostetter's trial featured testimony from co-defendant Russell Taylor, who pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with the government. 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.

More than 1,200 people have been charged in connection with January 6, and more than 450 have been sentenced to periods of incarceration.

Hostetter will report to federal prison in early January, around the three-year mark of the Capitol incident. He said he would appeal his conviction.