Newly-pardoned Jan 6 rioter rearrested on child solicitation charges
A freshly pardoned January 6 rioter who was granted freedom days into President Donald Trump's second term has been rearrested for outstanding child sex crimes.
Andrew Taake, 36, was taken into custody on Thursday morning for a 2016 charge of online solicitation of a minor following an ongoing surveillance operation led by Harris County authorities, which confirmed he had been living in Leon County in Texas, around two hours north of Houston.
The alleged incident occurred in 2016 and involved Taake sending sexually explicit messages to an undercover law enforcement agent posing as a 15-year-old girl, reports The Texas Tribune.
At the time of the Capitol riot, Taake was out on a $20,000 bail in relation to the arrest.
Since taking office, Donald Trump initiated the mass pardon of 1,500 January 6 rioters, including the leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys — a move that has reinvigorated some of the president's more adamant supporters.
Taake, assaulted officers on that deadly day in Capitol Hill, using bear spray and a metal whip — behavior he was caught bragging to another woman about on a dating app, court records seen by The Texas Tribune showed.
Infamously, Taake was arrested when dating app messages between him another woman in which he bragged about his role in the riot were revealed.
Days later, he was turned in to law enforcement. Taake received a six-year sentence in June 2024 after pleading guilty to assaulting police officers at the Capitol in 2021.
However, when Trump issued the sweep pardon, he was released from federal custody in Florence, Colorado, despite an insistence from authorities to hold him because of the pending warrant associated with the minor, said the Harris County District Attorney.
The Bureau of Prisons informed the Harris County D.A. that they needed 'a certified warrant to prevent Taake's release' and a copy of that warrant was faxed on January 15 this year, but Taake was released five days later, as per Trump's request.
'Re-arresting individuals, like Taake, who were released with pending State warrants, will require significant resources. Know that we are already in the process of tracking Taake down, as he must answer for a 2016 charge of soliciting a minor online', the district attorney previously stated on January 27.
His bond in Harris County was revoked and law enforcement is reported to be working closely with Leon County authorities to ensure he is transferred to the Harris County Jail.
The Independent contacted the Harris County District Attorney's Office for information.
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