Alan Hostetter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Police chief
- yoga instructor
Alan Hostetter | |
|---|---|
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Involvement in the January 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 the United 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 presidency, Donald Trump issued pardons to roughly 1500 individuals charged with crimes connected to January 6, including Hostetter.
In the 1980s, Hostetter served in the United States Army after graduating from high school, during which time he was deployed to West Germany. He then worked for the Orange County Sheriff's Department in the 1990s and later for the Fontana Police department leaving as a Deputy Chief and becoming police chief of La Habra, California, in 2009. He gave up the position due to spinal problems less than a year later, moved to San Clemente and began a new career as a yoga instructor and sound healer.[1][2]
Anti-lockdown protests
Following the early 2020 outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hostetter quickly became involved in protests 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 an unlawful 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, and trespassing. 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 by Harmeet Dhillon against the Californian lockdown policies. The lawsuit was later dismissed.[2] Hostetter also attended a protest outside the house of Costa Mesa mayor Katrina Foley and spoke at a QAnon conference. He also became increasingly oppositional to California governor Gavin Newsom, and at a July 2020 rally said that the Founding Fathers would violently overthrow him if they were alive.[2]