After Faking An Overdose, Proud Boy’s Chris Worrell Gets 10 Years In Prison For Assaulting Police Officers During Jan. 6 Capitol Riot

Florida Proud Boys member Chris Worrell was sentenced to ten years in prison for assaulting police officers during the riot on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol.

Worrell has been on the run and was accused of faking an overdose to avoid prison.

The 51-year-old man appeared before Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., for his bench trial.

He was found guilty by the judge for charges including civil disorder, assault, resistance and obstruction of officers using a dangerous weapon, as well as physical violence and other offenses.

Lamberth also put Worrell on 36 months of supervised release that included restitution of $2,000 and a $610 special assessment.

Worrell faced prison time before his disappearance. Initially, prosecutors sought a 14-year sentence, considered at the low end of the 12 to 17.5 years recommended by guidelines. Worrell later requested 12 to 18 months, citing a health condition in a plea for court sympathy.

Text messages presented at trial revealed that Worrell boasted about the assault, saying he used a “whole can” of pepper gel on police and was “f—— handing it to them” during the riot.

Worrell vanished days before his August sentencing. A nationwide search went on for weeks until he was found trying to sneak back into his Naples, Florida, home a month later.

Prosecutors accused him of having “no intention of ever turning himself in” and that Worrell admitted to faking a drug overdose. His lie ended up putting him in the hospital for five days, which matched the duration of his bench trial.

While in the hospital, Worrell sent out text messages to someone called B.S., who asked if he tried to kill himself, he responded, “I did not! Will explain more when we talk. I already told you some of it[.]”

He added, “I have never and will never lie to you. It was a stupid delay tactic. Will tell you more when we talk.”

Lamberth permitted Worrell’s pretrial release for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma treatment. In October 2021, he held two D.C. jail officials in contempt for non-compliance with orders of Worrell’s care.

Once it was found that Worrell faked an overdose, prosecutors urged the judge to reconsider the medical findings.

A supplemental sentencing memo highlights that after discovering his lie, “some of Worrell’s claims as to his medical treatment or conditions have been unsubstantiated by, or directly refuted by, medical records from at least a half-dozen different medical providers.”

At trial, Worrell was tearful and said that he “contemplated suicide and swallowed a bottle of pills” when the FBI caught him. He thanked the judge at the end for saving his life by letting him stay home for his treatment.

Lamberth sympathized with him, but he also criticized him for calling the defendants in Washington jails “political prisoners” due to their involvement in the riot.

Worrell’s lawyer, Bill Shipley, described it as a result of a “self-reinforcing” “feedback loop” within the jail.

Judge Lamberth’s departure from the normal sentencing guidelines aligns with his past actions. For instance, he called another rioter, Jacob Chansley, a “good man.”

Another instance was when he sentenced another rioter, Anna Morgan-Lloyd, to probation for her involvement.