Four Oath Keepers sentenced for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

Tattoo artist Roberto Minuta, 38; chiropractor Joseph Hackett, 52; neurophysiologist David Moerschel, 45, and Army veteran Edward Vallejo, 64, were convicted in January of multiple additional felony counts including conspiring to obstruct Congress’s confirmation of the 2020 election results and actually obstructing the proceeding.

Hackett and Moerschel brought firearms to the Washington area from southwest Florida, while Vallejo, of Phoenix, was placed in charge of the arsenal of such weapons staged at an Arlington hotel. The guns were to be rushed into Washington in case the Oath Keepers needed an armed “quick reaction force” if Trump invoked “the Insurrection Act” and mobilized the military and private militia to remain in power. Vallejo repeatedly messaged his readiness to act on Jan. 6, but he was not summoned to the fray, trial evidence showed.

In sentencing Minuta to 4½ years in prison Thursday, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta said citizens are free to protest peacefully, engage in civil disobedience and exercise the vote to oppose government “tyranny” in a democracy. But he called using violence against the government a “line that cannot be crossed.”

“Steeping yourself in and cloaking yourself in this tradition of the Founders and violent uprising and believing the Second Amendment allows individual citizens to gather up arms to battle their government — the law doesn’t permit that, and that is why you find yourself where you are today,” Mehta told Minuta.

Minuta said he was “ashamed” and “deeply apologetic” for the violence, and that he had disavowed the Oath Keepers organization.

“I was misled and naive,” Minuta said. “A deranged leader took the organization into a political, ‘Rah-rah Trump’ disaster,” he said referring to Rhodes.

Minuta, 38, had raced to the Capitol in a golf cart from near a hotel where he was a bodyguard for Trump political confidant Roger Stone. Minuta then helped lead a second line of Oath Keepers into the Capitol about 30 minutes after a first group entered.

Minuta, of Prosper, Tex., shouted, “Patriots storm[ed] the Capitol” and that he was joining “war in the streets” as he headed to the building. There, wearing a protective vest, ballistic gloves, and other tactical gear, Minuta assaulted and pushed against riot police, for which he was also convicted. Prosecutors asked for a 17-year sentence.

Minuta purchased 5,500 rounds of ammunition in the lead up to Jan. 6, evidence showed. Days before the riots, he wrote after speaking with Rhodes that the Oath Keepers founder felt “the time for peaceful protest is over.” Walking out of the Capitol during the riot, he told police, “All that’s left is the Second f------g Amendment.”

The judge rejected Minuta’s claim that he simply “lost his way for a few hours” or entered the Capitol trying to assist police. He also noted that Minuta had called Jan. 6 defendants “political prisoners” and victims of a “malicious prosecution,” and had written on a fundraising site, “The Government has been weaponized to destroy dissidents.”

Vallejo received 3 years in prison and one year of home confinement after his release. Prosecutors also sought a 17-year term for him.

Prosecutors said Vallejo drove across the country to participate in the “quick reaction force,” and shared a call for Trump supporters to come to Washington “armed, in large groups” so that “policemen don’t want to fight.”

The morning of Jan. 6, Vallejo recorded a podcast declaring there would be “guerrilla war” if Congress rejected Trump, then reminded co-conspirators as they breached the Capitol that he was “outfitted” with two trucks to bring in arms, texting, “QRF standing by at hotel. Just say the word. …”

Vallejo attorney Matthew Peed asked for a sentence of 20 months or time served, urging Mehta to consider that his client was not at the Capitol, committed no violence and was motivated to protect democracy, not to betray it.

Trump “twisted the best traits of people who believed he was telling the truth,” Peed said, “so people loyal and patriotic to this country were prepared to support some kind of force if that was called upon.”

Vallejo said at his sentencing, “I thought our democracy was being undermined and wanted to do everything I could to protect it … I now see how foolish and wrong I was.”

Vallejo said he lost his job as a veterans care provider after Jan. 6, wished he never followed Rhodes or went to Washington, and that he greatly regretted “all my foolish statements” and “all people have had to go through on that fateful day.”

Mehta said Vallejo’s crime of seditious conspiracy was in a different league from other nonviolent Jan. 6 offenders.

“You can’t conspire to undo a result, or prevent a result from happening because you and a group of your cohorts believed that the process failed you,” Mehta said, adding that Trump had a chance to make his case to the courts, appeal to the Supreme Court, and to Congress. “What can’t happen, Mr. Vallejo, is [joining] others and preparing to take up arms because the process didn’t work out the way you hoped.”

Moerschel, from North Port, Fla., had not met any of the other Oath Keepers in person until Jan. 4, 2021, but his rhetoric in group chats was equal to other members. “Trump knows this is a communist takeover,” Moerschel wrote in December 2020. “What’s he waiting for?”

Moerschel was part of a caravan from Florida, with Hackett and Kelly Meggs, in which Moerschel carried an AR-15 rifle and a Glock .45-caliber handgun to Virginia. He said in one message he brought the high-powered handgun because “I want the extra knock down power,” prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Edwards said Moerschel brought the guns to be ready if Trump, Rhodes or Meggs told him “it’s ‘go time.’ The safety of our community and balance of our democracy should not hinge on the impulses of madmen.”

Moerschel wept throughout his statement to Mehta. “I’m not sorry because I’m being punished,” Moerschel said. “I’m sorry because of the harm that my actions caused to other people. … This has indeed led to utter ruin of my life, and I’ve asked God’s forgiveness.”

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 10 years. Mehta imposed a 3-year term. In 31 sentencings, including 14 felonies, Mehta has gone below the government request every time.

“Sentencings shouldn’t be vengeful,” Mehta said. “It shouldn’t be such that it is unduly harsh simply for the sake of being harsh.” He allowed Moerschel to leave the courthouse and surrender at his convenience.

Hackett, from Sarasota, was also in the Florida caravan and also contributed at least one handgun, and possibly an AR-15 rifle, to the weapons kept in Arlington, prosecutors said. He joined the Oath Keepers in July 2020 after becoming fearful of rioting near his home in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, defense attorney Angela Halim said. He believed the Oath Keepers focused on community protection and emergency preparedness.

But in subsequent months, the Oath Keepers’ online discussions became angrier, and Hackett pledged to “demand the arrest of corrupt politicians” who participated in an “unconstitutional election.” On Jan. 6, he donned military gear and joined the line of Oath Keepers who moved up the steps into the Capitol, and then split from the group and stood outside then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office. Prosecutors asked for a 12-year prison sentence.

“I regret being there that day,” Hackett told the judge. “I regret ever joining the Oath Keepers. When I heard police officers and others testify about how scared they were, how terrified their families were, it broke my heart. I apologize to the police officers on duty that day.”

Mehta sentenced Hackett to 42 months, six months more than Moerschel because of Hackett’s leadership position in the Florida Oath Keepers.