Jan. 6 defendant Andrew Taake pardoned by Trump arrested again on 2016 solicitation of a minor charge
A January 6th rioter freed from federal prison after he was pardoned by President Trump last month was arrested again in Texas Thursday on an outstanding warrant from a 2016 solicitation charge, authorities said.
Andrew Taake, 36, was captured by authorities in the Lone Star State after he was on the run for two weeks over allegations he sent sexually explicit messages to an undercover cop who was pretending to be a 15-year-old girl, according to the Texas Tribune.
He was arrested at 11:30 a.m. by the Harris County District Attorney’s fugitive apprehension team after law enforcement nailed down that he was staying at a home in Leon County.
The 36-year-old is facing a charge of online solicitation of a minor dating back to May 2016.
Taake, a Houston native, was serving a six-year prison term after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon during the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The angry mob stormed the building to try to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.
He unleashed bear spray on officers numerous times as he and other rioters attempted to gain access to the Capitol grounds during a struggle with police, federal prosecutors previously said.
At one point he also attacked a Metropolitan police officer as a metal whip he was carrying made contact with the cop’s forearm, according to the feds. He spent about 20 minutes inside the Capitol.
Later that day, Taake bragged about his despicable behavior while chatting on a dating app, leading the woman to alert the FBI which resulted in his eventual arrest.
Before the convict was released from federal custody in Colorado last month, local authorities requested the feds hold him due to the pending warrant, prosecutors said.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office sent the Bureau of Prisons a certified warrant at the federal agency’s request, but he was still released five days later after Trump issued his wide-ranging pardon to around 1,500 defendants who had a role in the Capitol riot, the district attorney’s office said.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare called Taake a “suspected child predator.”
He is expected to be transferred to a Harris County jail in the coming days.
