Prosecutors say Andrew Taake of Texas used the dating app Bumble while in Washington on January 6. The match asked if he was near the Capitol and he said he was there “from the very beginning.” He sent several selfies and claimed that he spent 30 minutes in the building.
Within days, the match turned him in to the FBI, prosecutors said Friday in new court filings.
Screenshots of their Bumble chat show that Taake told the match he was “peacefully standing there” at the Capitol. But prosecutors say he was involved in two violent attacks against police who were defending the building. Footage from the front lines shows Taake using pepper spray against the police line and later striking police with a metal whip, according to court filings.
He has been charged with several federal crimes, including felony assault on a police officer, civil disorder and obstruction of congressional proceedings. He hasn’t yet entered a plea.
