A Ladera Ranch entrepreneur has admitted to teaming up with a former Orange County police chief and members of an extremist group in order to organize a group of “fighters” to travel to the U.S. Capitol, and on Wednesday pleaded guilty to his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Russell Taylor admitted during a hearing at a federal courthouse in Washington D.C. to conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding. He had previously faced numerous other federal charges, including obstruction, entering a restricted building and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds.
The plea deal requires that Taylor cooperate with law enforcement agencies, and notes that the charge he admitted to carries a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Taylor’s attorney, Dyke Huish, indicated during Wednesday’s hearing that Taylor already has met with the government on at least four occasions, and later told a reporter that Taylor was “doing the right thing” and was there to “take full responsibility” for his actions, NBC News reported.
Taylor and Alan Hostetter — a former La Habra police chief turned yoga instructor and conservative activist — are among the most high-profile Southern California defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, when thousands of pro-Trump supporters breached Congress in a violent but failed attempt to halt the certification of president Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The two men — who have deep ties to Orange County’s conservative protest circles — were accused of teaming up with four suspected members of the extremist, right-wing Three Percenters militia from Riverside County.
Hostetter and Taylor gained attention organizing local anti-mask rallies in the midst of the pandemic before apparently turning their attention to then-President Trump’s disproven claims of the 2020 election being stolen due to voter fraud.
According to a “statement of offense” filed along with Taylor’s…
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