One of the thousands of January 6 rioters pardoned by President Donald Trump is now wanted by authorities. A man named Andrew Taake was let go from federal prison despite awaiting trial for past child sex charges. The 36-year-old was found guilty of assaulting officers with a metal whip and dousing them with bear spray. However, before pleading guilty to the insurrection charges in 2023, Taake was already awaiting trial for allegedly soliciting a minor online in Houston.
According to court documents, he allegedly sent “multiple explicit messages” to an undercover cop pretending to be a 15-year-old girl back in 2016. He even went as far as admitting that he “could go to jail” for the interaction.
How, then, is Taake roaming free? According to Houston officials, a formal request was made to keep Taake in custody so he could face trial. However, Trump’s blanket pardon overshadowed it, causing the rioter to escape free. A spokesperson for the Harris County district attorney’s office told The Independent its office requested Taake’s hold back in 2022. They also sent more paperwork five days before Trump’s blanket pardon, but to no avail:
“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 the 2016 charge of soliciting a minor online.”
Donald Trump Slammed As Jan. 6 Rioters Cause More Mayhem
Representatives of the Federal Bureau of Prisons aren’t taking responsibility for the security concerns, saying they followed Trump’s pardon order to the letter. They argued that the instruction didn’t mention anything about outstanding charges.
“The language [stated] inmates currently held in prison should be released immediately. Our interpretation is if they were on our list and were in prison, they were to be released.”
Taake’s case is quite alarming, as the Houston native has a long history of being in trouble with the law. At 19, he was sentenced to six years behind bars for getting into a car crash while drunk. In 2022 and 2023, he got into altercations with inmates while serving jail time for Capitol-related charges.
Citizens online are now pointing accusing fingers at Trump, blaming him for allowing the January 6. rioters to get out of control.
“Well, well, what a surprise!!!! Not. This is only the tip of the iceberg,” wrote one fan.
“Who else is shocked that criminals are committing crimes?” another comment read.
“It is not a coincidence that the majority of January 6th rioters had a history of criminal, mental, or substance abuse issues,” a third user penned.
“Trump pardoned a pedophile,” slammed this disappointed citizen. “If every Democrat in the country does not run on this line in the ’26 midterms, they deserve to lose.”
Haake isn’t the only “J6ER“—as the rioters are called online—who has gotten into trouble with law enforcement since being pardoned. It keeps looking bad for Trump.
