The Proud Boy who vanished after he was convicted of storming the US Capitol on Jan. 6 allegedly faked an overdose to delay his sentencing, according to a new filing.
Federal prosecutors are now looking to hit Christopher Worrell, 52, with an even heftier punishment after he allegedly concocted the medical emergency to avoid the up to 14-year sentence he was facing for spraying pepper spray gel on police officers during the mob invasion.
“[Worell] fled supervision prior to sentencing, triggering a manhunt. He apparently had no intention of ever turning himself in,” states a supplemental sentencing memo filed on Tuesday.
“Worrell was recaptured, however, when he attempted to covertly return to his residence. Worrell then faked a drug overdose prior to his arrest, and maintained that lie during a five-day hospital stay, wasting the time and money of both medical staff and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, which provided deputies to watch Worrell 24/7 in a non-secure hospital location and was left to foot the bill for Worrell’s unnecessary medical care.”
Prosecutors asked a judge to consider the “new, aggravating facts” that have cropped up since Worrell was convicted in May 2023 of seven felonies, including obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, civil disorder, and assaulting officers using a dangerous weapon.
The extremist group member, who had been on house arrest, cut off his GPS ankle monitor in a Walmart parking lot on Aug. 14 — just four days before he was set to learn his fate, the documents allege.
The flight sparked a six-week FBI manhunt that ended when he was caught sneaking back into his Naples, Florida home.
Inside, officials found him “seemingly unresponsive” with an opened bottle of opioid prescription medication in his hand.
“They performed what they thought were lifesaving procedures and transported Worrell to the hospital. This was, the government later learned, all a ruse — Worrell pretended to have a medical emergency as a
‘delay tactic’ to stall the government’s investigation,” the filing states.
Worrell allegedly admitted to a friend during his five-day hospital stay — which cost the local sheriff’s department tasked with watching him more than $5,000 in overtime pay — that he had faked the “stupid delay tactic.”
At the time he was dragged back into custody, investigators found night-vision goggles, a wallet with about $4,000 in cash and a bag filled with new survivalist gear, indicating he had prepared to continue his evasion, the documents state.
“Worrell’s flight demonstrates his contempt for this judicial proceeding, lack of remorse, and willingness to strategically misrepresent his medical condition,” the filing says.
Prosecutors said the ruse has also called into question Worrell’s previous claims of unsubstantiated medical complications, which landed him his pre-trial release in the first place.
He was granted house arrest in November 2021 after a judge substantiated his civil-rights complaints that Worrell’s medical care for a broken hand had been delayed, a decision that also saw two DC jail officials held in contempt of court.
Worrell was convicted a year and a half later for storming the Capitol dressed in a tactical vest with fellow Donald Trump supporters as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
He later bragged he “deployed a whole can” of pepper spray gel and shouted insults at officers, calling them “commies” and “scum.”
During the trial, Worrell was accused by prosecutors of lying on the stand when claiming that he was spraying other rioters — a lie the judge called “preposterous.”
Worrell’s lawyer wrote in court papers that his client brought the spray gel and tactical vest to Washington for defensive purposes because of previous violence between Proud Boys and counter-protesters. His lawyer wrote that the chaotic scene at the Capitol “could have contributed to misperceptions creating inaccuracies” in Worrell’s testimony at trial.
