This post was updated Oct. 20 at 11:26 p.m.
A federal court judge sentenced a former UCLA student to 3 1/2 years in prison Wednesday for his involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Christian Secor, who studied political science, was arrested in February 2021 for his suspected connection to the riot, where he entered the Capitol building alongside other protesters in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results to favor former President Donald Trump. He was an undergraduate student at the time and was suspended from UCLA after the riot, according to the Associated Press.
Secor entered the Senate chamber, where he sat in former Vice President Mike Pence’s chair and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, according to court documents. He was unarmed.
According to court documents, Secor pleaded guilty to the felony of obstructing an official proceeding in May. Judge Trevor McFadden presided over the case and refused to lessen Secor’s sentence, despite a recommendation from the probation office supported by the defense, according to NPR. McFadden also sentenced Secor to three years of supervised release after his time served in prison, according to the Associated Press.
“[The conduct is] about as blatant and obstructive as any I’ve seen from that day that didn’t include actual violence,” McFadden said during the sentencing, according to NPR.
Secor denied the chance to speak during the majority of his hearing, according to NPR.
UCLA community members had voiced concerns about Secor’s behavior prior to his publicized arrest, according to a previous investigation by Daily Bruin. After the riot, Secor also tweeted in support of the insurrection.
[Related: Examining the rise of Christian Secor and the ‘alt-right’ movement at UCLA]
He also previously made tweets in favor of nationalism and fascism while espousing antisemitic beliefs about Jewish involvement in politics. In The Bruin’s investigation, one student said Secor attempted to push the Bruin Republicans further right ideologically and another said Secor supported abolishing birthright citizenship. While at UCLA, he founded America First Bruins, an inactive far-right campus group that signed a letter alongside other college Republican organizations calling for an indefinite end to immigration to the United States.
Around 900 people have been charged with federal crimes because of their involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection and more than 400 have pleaded guilty, according to the Associated Press.
