A former La Habra, California police chief was convicted Thursday in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Alan Hostetter, 56, of San Clemente was convicted of four felony counts of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
According to the Department of Justice:
On the morning of January 6th, Hostetter and others met in a group in downtown Washington to walk to the Ellipse for the rally. The government’s evidence states that Hostetter carried a backpack containing a hatchet. Following the conclusion of the events at the Ellipse, Hostetter and others began to walk towards the Capitol building. At approximately 2:30 p.m., Hostetter joined other rioters on the lower west terrace of the Capitol who were pushing through a line of law enforcement officers trying to hold them back. Hostetter and a co-defendant then pushed through the law enforcement line and moved through restricted areas of the grounds toward the upper west terrace. Once on the upper west terrace, Hostetter stated, “The people have taken back their house. Hundreds of thousands of patriots showed up today to take back their government!”
Hostetter later posted a picture of himself taken from the upper west terrace to an Instagram account that he controlled, writing, “This was the shot heard round the world!...the 2021 version of 1776. That war lasted 8 years. We are just getting started.”
Hostetter led the La Habra Police Department from 2009 to to 2010, when he took a disability retirement after just eight months on the job. He had previously served as assistant police chief in Fontana.
To date, over 1,069 individuals have been arrested and more than 485 have been sentenced for their roles in the attack.