Brett Alan Rotella during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol (Department of Justice).
A 35-year-old North Carolina man was sentenced to more than three years in prison for assaulting police officers and helping lead rioters during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach.
Brett Alan Rotella, who is also known as Brett Ostrander, was convicted by a jury of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia said in a press release. U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, appointed by President Barack Obama, sentenced Rotella to 38 months in prison, followed by three years probation along with a $2,000 fine. The FBI’s Statement of Facts affidavit said Rotella stood out from the crowd by wearing a red skull cap and a sleeveless, black puffy jacket showing his heavily tattooed arms while holding a pole with two flags on it.
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Rotella entered the West Plaza of the U.S. Capitol building shortly before 2:30 p.m. as Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence were attempted to certify the 2020 Presidential election won by Joe Biden. He picked up a metal police barrier and threw it at a cop and yelled ‘f—in’ tear gas us, I didn’t do sh–.” He also yelled “we just want things to be right” and “something has to happen or we’re all f—ed.”
Minutes later Rotella led a group of rioters in chasing cops who were retreating up the southwest stairs from the West Plaza. Rotella would at times stop and call out “hold” while raising his fist stopping the rioters as they ran up the stairs. He then led revelers up the Inauguration stage. As cops fired rubber bullets at his feet, Rotella continued to walk their way.
Officers ran into the Capitol and shut two sets of doors in an attempt to keep the rioters at bay. But the Trump supporters busted through the first set of doors. They then smashed the glass on the second set of doors and Rotella reached inside and opened it, allowing one rioter to enter the building and start fighting with cops. Others, including Rotella, joined. He used his body weight to push against the police line, prosecutors wrote.
He yelled “you want to hit me?! I’ll f— you up, motherf—er!”
About an hour later after he was kicked out of the building, Rotella joined the mob in fighting cops outside the west tunnel. He yelled “heave ho” and counted to three in order to help synchronize attacks against officers. He also helped carry a ladder to the front of the line.
The FBI identified Rotella and in July 2023 began surveillance outside his home in Kannapolis, a suburb of Charlotte. Agents followed him, a woman and two children to a grocery store. Surveillance images from the store matched those from the Capitol. Data from his phone also showed he was present in the area at the time of the riot. Agents obtained an arrest warrant and took him into custody on Aug. 29, 2023.
According to his sentencing memorandum, Rotella works as a bouncer as a strip club.
“The nature and circumstances of Rotella’s offenses, including his persistent defiance of police and willingness to enlist the mob around him and usher their progress, were of the utmost seriousness, and fully support the government’s recommended sentence of 60 months’ incarceration — higher than the midpoint of the applicable guidelines range,” prosecutors wrote.
“Rotella is now the father of three children, ages 1, 5, and 10. Rotella’s crimes stand in stark contradiction to his education, work in security, and responsibility for supporting his family — all of which he disregarded when he stormed the Capitol and assaulted police officers on January 6, 2021.”
