Houston man who bragged about Jan. 6 involvement on Bumble dating app pleads guilty
Federal prosecutors said a Houston man used bear spray and a whip-like weapon on U.S. Capitol police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, and bragged about it when he matched with a Bumble user later that day.
According to the feds, Andrew Taake's dating app braggadocio became his undoing.
On Wednesday, nearly three years after the attempt to disrupt the electoral counts for the 2020 presidential election, the 32-year-old pleaded guilty to a federal felony count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon.
Taake is due to be sentenced on March 26, 2024.
Taake's role
According to court records, Taake was among the hundreds of people who traveled to Washington D.C. on the behest of former Pres. Donald Trump in an attempt to forcefully overturn certifying Pres. Joe Biden's electoral win.
Prosecutors said Taake entered the restricted grounds of the Capitol and sprayed a line of law enforcement officers from the Metropolitan Police Department with bear spray. These officers were attempting to prevent rioters from further professing toward the Capitol building.
Court documents said that some rioters then clustered around approaching officers to prevent them from moving forward. Taake then emerged from the crowd of rioters and attacked an MPD officer while holding a whip-like weapon.
Taake entered the Capitol building through the Senate Wing door at about 2:20 p.m. and went to the crypt and hallways near it, brandishing the whip-like weapon.
The Bumble brag
Later that day, Taake messaged an individual on a dating application and spoke on his conduct at the Capitol.
When asked whether he was "near all the action," Taake responded, "Yes, from the very beginning. I was pepper sprayed, tear gassed, had flash bangs thrown at me, and hit with batons for peacefully standing there."
Taake then sent a photo of himself, which he described as "[a]bout 20 minutes after being pepper sprayed. Safe to say I was the very first person to be sprayed that day...all while just standing there."
Documents stated that Taake claimed to be "peacefully standing there" inside the capitol, but prosecutors used footage showing Taake's attack on the officers.
Taake was arrested more than six months later in Texas.
Taake wasn't the only Jan. 6 suspect rounded up through the Bumble app. One other person from New York was charged the April after the chaos after a match turned him in.
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