4 California men linked to Three Percenters militia convicted of conspiracy in Jan. 6 case

WASHINGTON —  Four Riverside County men linked to the Three Percenters militia movement have been convicted of charges including conspiracy and obstruction for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Erik Scott Warner, 48, of Menifee; Felipe Antonio Martinez, 50, and Derek Kinnison, 42, of Lake Elsinore; and Ronald Mele, 54, of Temecula were found guilty Tuesday after a trial in federal court in Washington, according to prosecutors.

They were convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding — the joint session of Congress in which lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

Attorneys for Martinez and Warner declined to comment, and an attorney for Mele had yet to respond to emails seeking comment.

Kinnison’s lawyer, Nicolai Cocis, said that he was disappointed with the verdict and that all legal options were being considered.

“Mr. Kinnison is a patriotic citizen who wanted to show his support for President Trump, who he believed was the rightful winner of the 2020 election. He regrets his involvement in the events of January 6,” Cocis said in an email.

Prosecutors say the men were part of a Three Percenters militia in Southern California. “Three Percenters” refers to the myth that only 3% of American Colonists fought in the Revolutionary War against the British.

The men were charged in 2021 alongside Alan Hostetter, a former California police chief, right-wing activist and vocal critic of COVID-19 restrictions, who was convicted in July in a separate trial. Another co-defendant, Russell Taylor, pleaded guilty in April to a conspiracy charge.

The four men had joined Hostetter and Taylor in a Telegram chat called “The California Patriots — DC Brigade” to coordinate plans for coming to Washington in January 2021. Taylor posted that the group was for “fighters” who were expected to bring “weaponry” and body armor with them on Jan. 6, according to prosecutors.

Warner, Martinez, Kinnison and Mele drove across the country together in the days before Jan. 6.

That day, Warner entered the Capitol through a broken window. Martinez, wearing a tactical vest, and Kinnison, wearing a gas mask, joined rioters on the Capitol’s Upper West Terrace, according to the indictment. Mele, also in a tactical vest, yelled, “Storm the Capitol!” in a selfie-style video taken on the building’s steps, prosecutors say.

Warner and Kinnison, who were accused of deleting the “DC Brigade” chat from their phones after the attack, were also convicted of tampering with documents or proceedings.

Nearly 1,200 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol assault. More than 800 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury or judge. About 700 of those have been sentenced — about two-thirds to prison terms ranging from three days to 22 years.