FBI looks for Proud Boy after the Jan. 6 convict missed his sentencing
Law enforcement authorities were searching this weekend for a Proud Boys member who had been scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday for sentencing after he was convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
An FBI wanted poster says Christopher Worrell, 52, of Naples, Fla., violated “conditions of release pending sentencing on federal charges.” The bureau asked anyone with information about Worrell’s whereabouts to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate.
Worrell had been under house arrest in Florida since his November 2021 release from the D.C. jail, where he said he was mistreated for his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and a broken wrist. He was scheduled to be sentenced Friday.
Worrell’s attorney Bill Shipley declined to comment.
More than 1,100 people have been charged in connection with the deadly Capitol insurrection, according to data compiled by the Justice Department.
Worrell’s conviction is one of more than 700 in the 2½ years since the insurrection. He was convicted in May on seven counts, including obstructing Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential electoral results, engaging in violence on Capitol grounds and assaulting three police officers with pepper-spray gel.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth this month to sentence Worrell to 14 years in prison, arguing that “unlike many January 6 rioters, Worrell refused to take responsibility, has shown no remorse, and lied numerous times under oath to the Court,” according to court documents.
Worrell is one of two Proud Boys whose actions on Jan. 6 were orchestrated or inspired by the four leaders of the far-right group with a history of violence, particularly Henry “Enrique” Tarrio.
Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy after a landmark trial in May. Prosecutors accused the former Proud Boys chairman of plotting political violence to prevent Congress’s certification of the 2020 electoral results.
The Justice Department has asked U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly to sentence Tarrio to 33 years in prison, the longest sentence of its kind in the Jan. 6 cases.
“The scope of the defendants’ conspiracy is vast. The defendants organized and directed a force of nearly 200 to attack the heart of our democracy,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason McCullough and Conor Mulroe wrote. “Tarrio was able to orchestrate a conspiracy — one that very nearly succeeded in provoking a constitutional crisis — thanks to his powerful influence over others, both associates and strangers.”
Prosecutors have alleged that the Proud Boys saw themselves as President Donald Trump’s “army,” were inspired by his directive to “stand by” during a September 2020 presidential debate and were mobilized by his December 2020 call for a “wild” protest.
A federal grand jury indicted the former president this month on charges of criminally conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The four-count indictment accuses Trump of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiring to stop Americans from exercising their right to vote and to have their vote counted.
Prosecutors have requested a Jan. 2, 2024, trial date while Trump’s lawyers have proposed April 2026 — long after the next presidential election. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan is expected to set a trial date at her next scheduled hearing on Aug. 28.
Trump has been indicted four times since his presidency. Of those indictments, two are related to his efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory.
Worrell isn’t the only Jan. 6 defendant being sought by authorities. Three others — Joseph Daniel Hutchinson III, Jonathan Daniel Pollock and Olivia Michele Pollock — were wanted Sunday, according to the FBI. Olivia, Jonathan’s sister who was charged with assaulting law enforcement, fled days before the start of her trial, the New York Times reported. The three are on the FBI’s wanted list.
Evan Neumann, another Jan. 6 defendant, fled to Europe in February 2021 and was granted asylum in Belarus.
Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.