Left: Andrew Taake. Right: Taake seen holding a whip during a confrontation at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI court filing).
A Texas man who bragged on a dating app that he was part of the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — and later turned in by a potential match — has admitted to attacking cops during the melee.
Andrew Quentin Taake, 32, unloaded a can of bear spray on officers with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) while facing off against law enforcement on Capitol grounds. As Law&Crime previously reported, he was seen on video and inside the Capitol carrying what looked like a metal whip, which he admitted to using on officers who were trying to hold back the crowd.
“At around 2:01 PM, rioters clustered in front of the MPD officers, preventing them from moving forward through the crowd,” the plea agreement’s statement of offense says. “At approximately 2:02 PM, Taake emerged from the crowd of rioters and attacked an MPD officer while holding a whip-like weapon.”
He ultimately entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing door at around 2:20 p.m., just minutes after the initial violent breach. Taake “made his way to the Crypt and hallways near the Crypt, brandishing the whip-like weapon,” prosecutors say.
He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon. The felony carries a potential 20-year statutory maximum sentence, although the plea agreement contemplates a sentence range of 46 to 57 months behind bars.
In the days following the riot, a witness who was messaging Taake on the Bumble dating app while he was in Washington, D.C., alerted the FBI to Taake’s role in the chaos. According to court documents, this witness “said Taake admitted to being inside the U.S. Capitol for approximately 30 minutes.”
Court documents show that Taake portrayed himself to his would-be paramour as little more than an innocent bystander.
“I was pepper sprayed, tear gassed, had flash bangs thrown at me, and hit with batons for peacefully standing there,” he wrote in a text to the potential match. He then sent a picture of himself with a scarf or gaiter covering the lower half of his face, which he indicated was taken around “30 minutes after being sprayed.”
“Safe to say I was the very first person to be sprayed that day … all while just standing there,” he added.
The witness and Taake never met in person, court filings note.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, will sentence Taake on March 26, 2024.
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