(WASHINGTON) — The former member of the right-wing extremist group, the Proud Boys, who went missing just before he was set to be sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison.
Christopher Worrell, 52, was initially charged with assaulting law enforcement officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was found guilty of those charges — but four days before his sentencing in August 2023, he cut off his ankle monitor and fled, leading to a six-week manhunt.
When the FBI arrested Worrell in September at his house Naples, Florida, he was unresponsive and had night-vision goggles, a wallet with approximately $4,000 in cash and a bag with new camping gear inside.
Worrell later told investigators that he had faked an opioid overdose as a strategy to delay sentencing. Sheriff’s deputies were required to guard Worrell in his hospital room during his five-day alleged recovery.
The government said Worrell “plotted” his trip to D.C. with other Proud Boys. He brought weapons such as a shield and pepper gel and used that gel on Capitol Police officers who were fighting the mob at the Capitol.
“Once on Capitol grounds, Worrell spewed vitriol for half an hour at the overwhelmed officers restraining the mob,” according to an Aug. 13 sentencing memo filed by the Justice Department. “And when he saw an opportunity to pepper spray the police line from deep within the crowd, Worrell took it.”
Worrell later bragged that he had “deployed a whole can” and was “f—— handing it to them.”
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ordered 36 months of supervised release and restitution of $2,000.
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