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 Jan. 6 rioter from Texas who got hit with an arrest warrant for online solicitation of a minor after being pardoned by President Donald Trump is back behind bars after being busted Thursday following a surveillance operation, cops say.
Andrew Taake, 36, was taken into custody by the Harris County District Attorney’s Fugitive Apprehension squad with help from multiple law enforcement agencies after a warrant was issued for his arrest late last month, according to prosecutors. Taake was caught in Leon County, Texas, and must now face justice in Houston for a 2016 charge of online solicitation of a minor. He was on pretrial release when the 2021 Capitol attack unfolded, which landed him a six-year prison sentence for attacking police officers with a metal whip and dousing them in bear spray.
Taake pleaded guilty in December 2023 to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon. Last month, Trump scrubbed away the charge with a “full, complete and unconditional” pardon of Taake and his roughly 1,500 fellow rioters. Prosecutors in Harris County took up the solicitation charge — now that his federal case is no longer active — as a result.
“Re-arresting individuals, like Taake, who were released with pending State warrants, will require significant resources,” District Attorney Sean Teare said in a statement before Taake’s arrest. “Know that we are already in the process of tracking Taake down, as he must answer for 2016 charge of soliciting a minor online.”
According to prosecutors, Taake was apprehended Thursday after a surveillance operation on Tuesday confirmed he was staying at a residence in Leon County.
“We would like to thank the coordinated efforts of our office’s Fugitive Apprehension Section, Leon County Sheriff’s Office, and Texas Department of Public Safety for their diligence in getting this suspected child predator back into custody,” Teare said in a statement.
Taake made headlines at the time of his Jan. 6 arrest after he was turned in by a woman he met on the dating app Bumble. He was sentenced to 74 months in prison last year — followed by 36 months of supervised release — in addition to paying $2,000 in restitution.
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According to the Houston Chronicle, Taake was allegedly soliciting a person in 2016 who he “believed to be younger than 17 years of age.” He was 27 at the time.
Authorities say Taake talked on social media with an undercover cop posing as a 15-year-old girl. He allegedly sent “multiple explicit messages” and asked to meet up with her — even admitting that he “could go to jail” if anyone found out what he was doing. Taake allegedly went to an address that the undercover provided and cops arrested him. If convicted, he faces a decade in prison.
David Harris contributed to this report.
