Christopher Worrell, of Naples, Florida, was due to be sentenced Friday after being found guilty of spraying police officers on Capitol Hill with irritant gas as Congress prepared to certify Joe Biden’s election victory on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors have asked the judge for a sentence of 14 years in prison.
The hearing was canceled and a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to court documents. The US Attorney’s Office for Washington has asked the public to provide any information on Worrell’s whereabouts.
Worrell had been under house arrest in Florida since he was released from prison in Washington in November 2021, less than a month after a judge accepted his complaints about his treatment in jail.
Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that authorities delayed Worrell’s medical treatment for a broken hand and found DC corrections officials in contempt
William Shipley, Worrell’s attorney, declined to comment. The phone numbers on file for Worrell and the woman named as his conservator are not working.
More than thirty people accused in the assault on the Capitol have been identified by the authorities as leaders, members or relatives of the Proud Boys, whose members identify themselves as a group of “Western machos”.
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the group were convicted of seditious conspiracy in May.
Some 1,000 people have been arraigned on federal charges for the assault on the Capitol. More than 600 have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials decided by a jury or judge. Some 600 have been sentenced and more than half have received sentences of between three days and 18 years in prison.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
