Houston Man Sentenced to 6 Years for Assaulting Cops with Bear Spray and Metal Whip

WASHINGTON – A Houston man was sentenced to prison today for assaulting law enforcement and other charges related to his conduct during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Andrew Taake, 35, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols to 74 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution. Taake pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, a felony, on Dec. 20, 2023.

Taake, while on pretrial release for a still-pending child-solicitation case in Texas, came to Washington, D.C., armed with bear spray and a metal whip. Taake attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse and was among the first to breach the restricted perimeter of the Capitol grounds and swarm the West Plaza.

Taake made his way to the front of the crowd on the West Plaza, at which point he and other rioters forced the outnumbered U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officers to retreat closer to the building. Taake followed, maintaining proximity to the officers.

A chaotic physical struggle between officers and rioters broke out. At approximately 1:16 p.m., Taake surged forward toward the police line and sprayed the officers with bear spray from approximately ten feet away for about three seconds, engulfing the officers in a cloud of orange chemicals.

Taake was later identified and arrested in Houson, Texas in July 2021 after a tip was sent to the FBI from a dating application. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case.

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