Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 32
- Location
- Houston, Texas
- Charges
- Civil Disorder; Obstruction of an Official Proceeding; Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Impeding Passage Through the Capitol Grounds or Buildings; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Dismissed in part or full; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
Andrew Taake assaulted law enforcement officers twice -- once with pepper spray and once with a metal whip, according to the FBI. Court documents show that Taake was identified to prosecutors by a match on the dating app Bumble. Those documents include screenshots taken from the app, which the FBI says show Taake being in Alexandria, Va., on Jan. 6, 2021, and admitting to spending half an hour inside the U.S. Capitol. Security camera footage confirms Taake was inside the Capitol carrying the metal whip, prosecutors say. The FBI says it served a search warrant on Verizon, and cellphone records show a phone associated with Taake’s number was likely inside the Capitol. Prosecutors also say they reviewed flight records showing Taake flew from Houston to Baltimore on Jan. 5, 2021, on Spirit Airlines and returned to Texas on Jan. 8, 2021.
Case History
Taake pleaded Guilty to one charge: Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon. The other charges are dismissed. Sentenced on 6/5/2024 to 74 months incarceration; 36 months of supervised release; $2,000 in restitution; $100 special assessment. Taake received a full pardon on January 20, 2025
Sources
- Primary Documentation
NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR - Primary Documentation
Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR
Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.