FBI arrests Proud Boys member who disappeared days before sentencing over role in Jan. 6

(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has arrested a member of the Proud Boys who went missing just before he was set to be sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a spokesperson for the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

“We can confirm the arrest of Christopher Worrell,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement Thursday evening. “The FBI arrested him and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office assisted.”

Worrell, a 52-year-old from Naples, Florida, went missing in August just before he was going to be sentenced for several felonies he was convicted on over his conduct during the Jan. 6 riot.

Worrell — a self-identified member of right-wing extremist group the Proud Boys — pepper sprayed police during the attack on the Capitol, according to court documents.

A judge found Worrell guilty in May 2023 of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, and obstructing, impeding, or interfering with officers during the commission of a civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, engaging in physical violence with a deadly or dangerous weapon all felonies, and an act of physical violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings, a misdemeanor. The verdict followed a five-day bench trial.

“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.”

On Jan. 6, Worrell, wearing a tactical vest, carried pepper gel when he marched with other Proud Boys from the Washington Monument to the Capitol, according to court records. He warned officers he passed, “don’t make us go against you,” according to court records.

After the judge in his case was informed that Worrell had gone missing, the judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

Worrell had been on house arrest after court records show he complained about the treatment at the Washington D.C. jail. The federal judge allowed him to await sentencing while on house arrest.

Prosecutors had sought a 14 year prison sentence for Worrell.

ABC News’ Luke Barr and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this story.

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