After being caught by a potential date on the Bumble app, the Texas man admitted to beating police with a metal whip and spraying them with bear spray during the riots on January 6. He was then sent to jail.
In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that 35-year-old Andrew Quentin Taake was given a sentence of 74 months in jail, 36 months of supervised release, and was told to pay $2,000 in restitution.
A judge picked by Donald Trump, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, told NBC News that Taake’s crimes were “as serious as any other Jan. 6 defendant I sentenced” and that his acts were “the farthest thing from First Amendment expression.”
Law&Crime said that Taake pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain police with a dangerous weapon. He was out on bond while his Texas child solicitation case was being heard in court when he went to the Capitol with bear spray and a metal whip, ready to fight, according to officials.
When police were trying to hold the line, he sprayed them four times with “bear-attack repellent spray.” Police say he hit a police officer with a metal whip and threw a water bottle at the police line before climbing up a wall. Prosecutors say he got into the Capitol through the Senate Wing Door soon after it was broken into and carried his metal whip around the building for 20 minutes.
A witness who was in Washington, D.C., and messaging Taake on the dating app Bumble told the FBI about Taake’s part in the chaos in the days after the riot. Court records say that this witness “said Taake admitted to being in the U.S. Capitol for about 30 minutes.”
Files from the court show that Taake told his potential lover that he was just a spectator and not involved.
He told the possible match in a text message, “I was pepper sprayed, tear gassed, hit with batons, and flash bangs thrown at me for not moving.” Then he sent a picture of himself with a scarf or gaiter covering half of his face. He said the picture was taken “about 30 minutes after being sprayed.”
As he stood there, he said, “It’s safe to say I was the first person to be sprayed that day.”
Court records show that the witness and Taake never met in person as per Law&Crime.
People who worked for the FBI say that when they caught Taake in January 2021, they found three loaded guns in his home, even though he wasn’t allowed to have them because he was a felon.
In December 2023, he admitted to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding police with a dangerous tool.
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When the Bumble user who told the FBI about Taake pleaded guilty, they told NBC’s Reilly, “FINALLY.”
Reilly said, “It’s crazy to see him still defend that attack after all this time. It makes me even more glad he was caught for it.”
Based on court papers, prosecutors say that Take has been blaming police officers, members of Congress, and the media for his crimes since January 6.
prosecutors said that his main story is that he and other “patriots” were heroes and that he is being wrongfully held because of “selective persecution.” “He hasn’t shown any remorse for what he did or taken responsibility for it. In fact, he has denied responsibility even after pleading guilty.”
According to reports from his pre-trial detention, he has “resorted to violence against other inmates as a way to vent his anger over the problems he caused himself.”
In April, Taake’s first sentencing meeting went badly because the judge wanted to add a harsher sentence that wasn’t in the plea deal.
More than 1,424 people have been charged with crimes linked to the Capitol breach in the 40 months since January 6, 2021.
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