Florida Proud Boys Member Christopher Worrell Captured by FBI After 44 Days as a Fugitive

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

The Florida Proud Boys member who skipped out on his Aug. 18 sentencing on charges that he assaulted police with pepper spray at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was arrested on Sept. 28 after he covertly returned to his home in Naples, Fla.

Christopher John Worrell, 52, had been a fugitive from justice since Aug. 15, when a bench warrant was issued by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. The arrest warrant was unsealed on Aug. 18.

“FBI agents quickly surrounded and then entered the residence. They discovered the 52-year-old unconscious and immediately provided medical attention,” Andrea Aprea, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Tampa Field Office, said in a statement. “Worrell was transferred to an area hospital where he remains at this time.”

In the home, FBI agents found “night-vision goggles, $4,000 in cash, and survivalist gear,” the FBI statement said.

The FBI notified the Collier County Sheriff’s Office Counterterrorism Intelligence Unit at 2:30 p.m. ET that Mr. Worrell had returned to his home, according to the arrest report.

“Units responded and set up a perimeter,” the report said. “FBI units gained consent entry to the residence and found Christopher Worrell unconscious on the kitchen floor.

“Medical attention was rendered and EMS responded to transport Christopher to the hospital for further treatment.”

Christopher J. Worrell was captured by the FBI in Naples, Fla., after skipping out on his sentencing hearing for Jan. 6 crimes at the U.S. Capitol. FBI

Mr. Worrell is being held by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office on tentative charges of being a fugitive from justice, obstructing justice, and violating the terms of his release.

Mr. Worrell was found guilty on May 12 of seven federal charges related to his time at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

DOJ Sought 14 Years

Federal prosecutors recommended that Mr. Worrell be sentenced to 14 years in prison for assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, obstruction of an official proceeding, 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.

Mr. Worrell’s defense attorney, William Shipley, asked Judge Lamberth to sentence his client to 60 months of probation with 30 months of home detention to ensure Mr. Worrell would receive ongoing treatment for his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Mr. Shipley told The Epoch Times he has not spoken to his client since the Sept. 28 arrest. They previously spoke on Aug. 9 when Mr. Shipley filed a sentencing memorandum with the court.

What new charges Mr. Worrell could face from his time on the run “will likely depend on what sentence Judge Lamberth imposes” for the trial verdicts, Mr. Shipley said.

Mr. Worrell’s disappearance came shortly after federal prosecutors announced their intention to seek 14 years in prison and up to a $181,000 fine in the case.

“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 August. “Fourteen years? Murders in D.C. get shorter sentences.”