Former OC Police Chief, Prominent Activist And Jan. 6 Rioter Freed

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Former La Habra Police Department Chief Alan Hostetter, a prominent COVID-19 restrictions critic and activist, was released Tuesday from federal prison along with hundreds of other defendants convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol following President Donald Trump's pardons.

Hostetter, who has ties to San Clemente and last resided in Poolville, Texas, was released between midnight and 12:30 a.m. and picked up from the federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, his attorney Karren Kenney said.

According to Kenney, Hostetter said it was not the last time the public would hear from him and that he added, "We are just getting started."

Hostetter was convicted in July 2023 in a non-jury bench trial before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who ruled he 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.

Lamberth sentenced Hostetter to 135 months in federal prison and 36 months of supervised release.

"I think he's trying to figure it out -- he didn't say for sure what his plans are," Kenney said.

"I'm just glad Trump did what he did," Kenney said. "The people who didn't commit any violence didn't deserve to be charged."

Hostetter, who refused to enter plea negotiations and insisted on his innocence, represented himself in his trial with Kenney appointed to help him.

In January 2024, Kenney got a state case related to a protest in San Clemente about pandemic-related restrictions against Hostetter dismissed.

Co-defendant Russell Taylor, who pleaded guilty in April 2023 and testified against Hostetter, also received a pardon, his attorney, Dyke Huish said. Taylor was sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of probation in June 2024 but he has already completed that, Huish said.

"My client always had faith and confidence President Trump would issue a pardon on the first day of his presidency, and that promise has been fulfilled," Huish said. "And in the vein of (former President) Gerald Ford it is my hope and expectation that this will bring an end to our long national nightmare."

Huish said federal prosecutors should have focused more on the 80 to 100 defendants who were accused of violent acts. Huish added that Trump shouldn't have just wiped away everyone's convictions and charges in one fell swoop and should have more carefully reviewed the more culpable defendants.

"Mr. Taylor hopes to move forward now," Huish said.

Prosecutors pointed out that Hostetter drove across country to attend Trump's rally on Jan. 6, 2021, with a car packed with weapons that would be prohibited in carry-on plane baggage. They also said Hostetter wanted to be prepared for a potential armed revolution in the nation's capitol.

"Hostetter talked repeatedly in advance of Jan. 6 in the language of `war' and `revolution,' " prosecutors said. "He discussed the `tyrants and traitors' and the need for `executions' of his political enemies. His delusions of grandeur -- to see himself as the main player in a grand conspiracy centered on Jan. 6, 2021 -- further demonstrate the danger Hostetter poses to the community in the future."

The prosecutors said Hostetter, who represented himself in the trial with a back-up attorney, was dishonest in testimony.

"Hostetter likes to wrap himself in the American flag and take on the role of freedom fighter, but there is nothing patriotic or American about calling for violence -- or threatening violence, to achieve your political aims," the prosecutors said. "That is not patriotism. That is terrorism."

The prosecutors also faulted him for "self-indulgent court filings, in which he ignored the issues relevant to the case and talked about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Fox News Channel's firing of talk show host Tucker Carlson; the collapse of 7 World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001; occult symbols in the `Wizard of Oz'; the secret society Skull and Bones; and the censoring of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts."

The prosecutors acknowledged that Hostetter's "history and characteristics" have their pros and cons.

"For years, Hostetter was a yoga and meditation teacher," the prosecutors said. "But he collected weapons for Jan. 6 and called for executions of politicians he disagreed with. He is a gifted and charismatic public speaker.

"But he used those gifts to stoke the fires of rebellion and to call for war. He has decades of service to his community as a member of law enforcement and in service in the United States Army. But he advanced past police lines, when he knew better, and joined a riotous mob set on disrupting the peaceful transfer of power."

The prosecutors argued that a lengthy prison sentence would serve as a deterrent.

"Hostetter's crime was an attack on not just the Capitol, but the United States and its system of government," the prosecutors. said. "He joined a mob and struck a blow to a central feature of the American system: the peaceful transfer of power.

"This is a defendant who rallied others to the cause of war, revolution and threats of violence against political leaders. ... A lengthy term of incarceration is necessary to reflect the seriousness of his crime and to promote respect for the law."

City News Service