A Texas man was arrested for his alleged role in the U.S. Capitol riot after a woman he matched with on the dating app Bumble turned him in to the FBI.
CNN reports that Andrew Taake, 32, was arrested on Friday at his home in Houston, after the FBI received a tip from his match on Bumble. Taake used the dating app while in Washington on January 6. While chatting with a woman he matched with, he told her he was at the Capitol “from the very beginning.” He also sent several selfies and claimed that he spent 30 minutes in the building.
“Taake discussed his participation in the riot with Witness 1 and sent Witness 1 several pictures of himself, including a picture of himself taken on January 6, 2021, after he was allegedly pepper sprayed by law enforcement officers,” an FBI agent said in the criminal complaint.
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.
Taake has been charged with several federal crimes, including felony assault on a police officer, civil disorder and obstruction of congressional proceedings. He made his first court appearance on Friday and is being held in federal custody. He hasn’t yet entered a plea.
