Florida Proud Boys Member a Fugitive After Skipping Sentencing Hearing on Jan. 6 Charges

Christopher Worrell faces possible 14-year prison term

Christopher J. Worrell sprays pepper gel toward the police line on the west front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Department of Justice/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

A Florida member of the Proud Boys and a cancer patient is a fugitive after disappearing and failing to show up for his Aug. 18 sentencing on seven federal Jan. 6-related charges.

United States District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Christopher John Worrell, 52, of Naples, Florida. That warrant had been under seal but was made public on Aug. 18.

Mr. Worrell’s defense attorney, William Shipley, said he last had contact with him just after filing his sentencing memorandum with the court on Aug. 9. Mr. Shipley had traveled from his office in Hawaii to Washington for the sentencing hearing.

He noted that Mr. Worrell disappeared shortly after federal prosecutors announced their intention to seek 14 years in prison and up to a $181,000 fine for Mr. Worrell.

“The worst thing Chris was found guilty of was a 2-second burst of pepper spray at a group of officers 20 feet away,” Mr. Shipley told The Epoch Times in an email. “Fourteen years? Murders in D.C. get shorter sentences.”

In his sentencing recommendation, Mr. Shipley asked Judge Lamberth to impose 60 months of probation, including 30 months of home detention. He said that sentence would ensure Mr. Worrell would receive ongoing treatment for his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Mr. Worrell was found guilty in a May bench trial on all seven charges filed against him, including civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building, obstruction of an official proceeding, 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, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

Mr. Worrell was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2007. The blood disease went without treatment for eight months in the District of Columbia jail after his March 2021 arrest, prompting Judge Lamberth to order his release in November 2021 so he could start chemotherapy and radiation treatments at home in Florida.

The length of prison sentences for defendants found guilty of Jan. 6 felonies has become an ongoing issue for defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors on July 12 took the unusual step of appealing the sentences meted out to eight members of the Oath Keepers whose prison terms were substantially lower than recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice.