‘Galling’: Florida man faked overdose to avoid Capitol riot sentencing, feds say

Video above from previous coverage: Florida Proud Boys member who disappeared ahead of Jan. 6 sentencing has been arrested

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man is accused of faking an overdose to avoid his sentencing for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, according to a supplemental sentencing memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The document, filed Tuesday, accuses Christopher Worrell of Naples of faking the overdose when he was recaptured after escaping supervision.

Worrell continued to lie about the drug overdose 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,” according to the filling.

The U.S. Department of Justice is asking the judge presiding over Worrell’s sentencing to give him a larger sentence than they would have issued before his alleged actions.

“The Court should lengthen Worrell’s sentence to ensure that other defendants do not think that fleeing prior to sentencing will lead to no consequences once they are caught,” the DOJ said.

Worrell cut off his ankle monitor in a Walmart parking lot on Aug. 14, four days before his initial sentencing date, according to officials. A manhunt ensued that lasted for six weeks until he was recaptured.

On Sept. 28, Worrell “covertly” returned to his home. The FBI entered the home, finding Worrell apparently unresponsive with an opened bottle of opioids, according to the filing.

“They performed what they thought were lifesaving procedures and transported Worrell to the hospital,” the filing reads. “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.”

While Worrell was in the hospital for five days, it cost the Collier County Sheriff’s Office $5,340 in overtime labor. The sheriff’s office was also billed for all of Worrell’s medical expenses, according to the DOJ.

“The entire time, Worrell knew he was fine,” the filing reads.

The FBI found night-vision goggles, a bag with new camping gear, and a wallet with $4,000 cash at his home, according to the filling.

“It is clear Worrell intended to never return to face sentencing before this Court, despite personally repeatedly promising the Court, when seeking pretrial release, that he was ‘not trying to not answer to [his] charges,” according to the DOJ.

The DOJ said Worrell trying to escape “demonstrates contempt for this judicial proceeding” and was an attempt to “evade all consequences for his misconduct on January 6, 2021 and his perjury during trial.”

The court showed “graciousness” and “patience” with Worrell by allowing him to be released, and despite bond condition violations, not taking him back into custody because of his medical conditions, according to the filing.

“Yet Worrell repaid the Court’s trust in him by becoming one of the few January 6 defendants to have fled before trial or sentencing,” the DOJ said. “That is galling.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office searched multiple states “from New York to South Carolina to Texas to California to Oregon” for any information on his whereabouts.

“Worrell triggered a manhunt and enormous waste of government resources,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ said Worrell used some of his medical issues to say that it would be unsafe for him to travel to D.C. or sit through the trial.

“Yet once he had been convicted, Worrell felt healthy enough to flee in Florida’s summer heat, cut off contact with his treating physicians, and live as a fugitive while carrying night-vision goggles and camping gear,” the DOJ said.

However, the DOJ didn’t dispute Worrell’s bouts with cancer, his multiple times fainting, or required jaw surgery from years of radiation treatment.

“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. On top of that, Worrell has now repeatedly lied under oath to this Court at trial, after providing ‘the most ridiculous explanation’ this Court had ‘ever heard in [its] life’ in an attempt to excuse his 2022 bond violation.”

Because of that, Worrell’s claims of past medical mistreatment “should be viewed as suspect,” according to the DOJ.

The DOJ said the court should ignore any of Worrell’s attempts to apologize because “being convicted and sitting through this Court’s refutation of his ridiculous trial testimony has not changed him.”

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