Pardoned Archives - Home Safety Tech Pros

Pardoned Jan. 6 defendant headed back to prison

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 13:28:34 +0000

Daniel Edwin Wilson is seen in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (U.S. Attorney’s Office).

A pardoned Jan. 6 defendant from Kentucky is going back to prison to serve out his term for separate firearms convictions after he had been erroneously released from custody.

Dan Edwin Wilson, 49, was ordered on Friday to self-surrender to federal authorities to serve the remaining time of his 60-month — or five-year — sentence.

U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Donald Trump appointee, rejected his claim that the President’s pardon for his charge of conspiracy to impede or injure an officer at the Capitol also covered his separate convictions in Kentucky for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of an unregistered firearm.

Like many other rioters, the defendant posted messages online about what he wanted to do in Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to Jan. 6.

“I am ready to lay my life on the line,” Wilson declared on Dec. 27 in the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

“We are willing to work and coordinate with others, but I am a gray ghost ranger,” he wrote, referring to his affiliation with the so-called “Gray Ghost Militia.”

Wilson entered the Capitol that day wearing a gas mask and walked through the Rotunda and Statuary Hall before exiting at 2:49 p.m. He was inside for just over 10 minutes. He was arrested on May 25, 2023, almost a year after the federal search warrant was executed on his home.

On June 3, 2022, law enforcement seized six firearms stored in a backpack and cabinet in Wilson’s home, including some that were covered by clothing.

“Wilson was prohibited from possessing firearms at the time, due to previous felony convictions,” the probable cause affidavit notes. “At least two of the seized firearms were loaded at the time of seizure, and another two did not have serial numbers.”

The firearm charges were initially filed in Kentucky federal court but were later transferred to the District of Columbia, the FBI says.

Wilson was sentenced on Aug. 28, 2024.

Around Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, when Trump issued his Executive Order granting pardons to Jan. 6 defendants, Wilson was erroneously released from prison, authorities said.

Then, he was ordered to return to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, and his defense counsel filed a motion to stay his return, which the government did not oppose.

“The government has reviewed the Certificate of Pardon, which was provided to the defendant by the Office of the Pardon Attorney on or about January 29, 2025,” prosecutors wrote in court documents. “The Certificate makes clear that the pardon only applies to ‘convictions for offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.’”

The firearm convictions, they added, “did not occur at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, and thus, by the plain language of the certificate, the pardon does not extend to these convictions. The defendant should be returned to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.”

Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.

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Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter behind bars for child solicitation

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 03:59:56 +0000

Left: Andrew Taake. Right: Taake seen holding a whip during a confrontation at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI court filing).

A Jan. 6 rioter from Texas who got hit with an arrest warrant for online solicitation of a minor after being pardoned by President Donald Trump is back behind bars after being busted Thursday following a surveillance operation, cops say.

Andrew Taake, 36, was taken into custody by the Harris County District Attorney’s Fugitive Apprehension squad with help from multiple law enforcement agencies after a warrant was issued for his arrest late last month, according to prosecutors. Taake was caught in Leon County, Texas, and must now face justice in Houston for a 2016 charge of online solicitation of a minor. He was on pretrial release when the 2021 Capitol attack unfolded, which landed him a six-year prison sentence for attacking police officers with a metal whip and dousing them in bear spray.

Taake pleaded guilty in December 2023 to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon. Last month, Trump scrubbed away the charge with a “full, complete and unconditional” pardon of Taake and his roughly 1,500 fellow rioters. Prosecutors in Harris County took up the solicitation charge — now that his federal case is no longer active — as a result.

“Re-arresting individuals, like Taake, who were released with pending State warrants, will require significant resources,” District Attorney Sean Teare said in a statement before Taake’s arrest. “Know that we are already in the process of tracking Taake down, as he must answer for 2016 charge of soliciting a minor online.”

According to prosecutors, Taake was apprehended Thursday after a surveillance operation on Tuesday confirmed he was staying at a residence in Leon County.

“We would like to thank the coordinated efforts of our office’s Fugitive Apprehension Section, Leon County Sheriff’s Office, and Texas Department of Public Safety for their diligence in getting this suspected child predator back into custody,” Teare said in a statement.

Taake made headlines at the time of his Jan. 6 arrest after he was turned in by a woman he met on the dating app Bumble. He was sentenced to 74 months in prison last year — followed by 36 months of supervised release — in addition to paying $2,000 in restitution.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Taake was allegedly soliciting a person in 2016 who he “believed to be younger than 17 years of age.” He was 27 at the time.

Authorities say Taake talked on social media with an undercover cop posing as a 15-year-old girl. He allegedly sent “multiple explicit messages” and asked to meet up with her — even admitting that he “could go to jail” if anyone found out what he was doing. Taake allegedly went to an address that the undercover provided and cops arrested him. If convicted, he faces a decade in prison.

David Harris contributed to this report.

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Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter gets 10 years for deadly DUI crash

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 23:58:19 +0000

Background: Emily Hernandez arriving at court in Franklin County, Missouri (KSDK/YouTube). Inset: Emily Hernandez at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot (Department of Justice)

A Jan. 6 rioter from Missouri who made headlines for swiping Nancy Pelosi’s name plate during the Capitol attack went from pardon to prison this week as she was sentenced Wednesday for causing a fatal crash while driving drunk on the wrong side of the highway.

Emily Hernandez, 25, got hit with a 10-year sentence by Franklin County Judge Ryan Helfrich for the death of 32-year-old Victoria Wilson on Jan. 5, 2022, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and local NBC affiliate KSDK. She received 10 years and another seven years for injuring Wilson’s husband, Ryan E. Wilson — who was riding with her that night — with the sentences to be served concurrently.

“No matter how loud I cried out to her, I couldn’t wake her,” Wilson said in court Wednesday, where he reportedly used a cane to walk due to the severity of his injuries, per the Post-Dispatch. “I couldn’t reach her because of the air bags.”

According to her criminal complaint, Hernandez was driving drunk on the wrong side of the highway during the fatal crash that killed Wilson and injured her husband. The crash happened just after 7 p.m., with their cars colliding in the eastbound lane of I-44.

Hernandez had a blood-alcohol content of .20% when tested after the crash, more than double the legal limit.

“What I did was ungodly and I will live with that shame for the rest of my life,” Hernandez said at her sentencing, according to the Post-Dispatch. “I am sorry for what I did and if I could take it all back, I would.”

Victoria Wilson’s family told KSDK after the court proceeding that while it’s nice to see justice be served, there’s “an empty hole” in their hearts that will never be filled.

“Nothing will bring her back,” said Victoria’s mom, Tonie Donaldson. “It was some relief to be able to turn and look her in her eyes and tell her how much harm she had really done to us … that’s a choice she made, she has to live with it.”

Hernandez, who pleaded guilty to the drunk driving incident, was pardoned by President Donald Trump last week on his first day in office — along with other rioters — after she pleaded guilty in January 2022 to a misdemeanor for entering the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.

After the attack, Hernandez was seen in pictures and on video grinning while holding a fragment of a sign appearing to identify Pelosi’s office. She pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building after originally being charged with disorderly conduct, disruptive conduct in the Capitol, one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building, and “steal[ing], sell[ing], convey[ing] or dispos[ing] of any thing of value of the United States.”

The fatal crash that claimed Victoria Wilson’s life happened just six days before Hernandez was scheduled to plead guilty. She was given a 30-day jail sentence for the Jan. 6 charge.

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