In a federal complaint against the United States, a convicted January 6 rioter, who has since been pardoned by Trump, claims that prison physicians “wrongly injected” him with female hormones, changing his body without his consent.
Andrew Quentin Taake, a Texas man who was convicted of assaulting police officers during the Capitol incident, filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on September 5.
Taake was arrested again on a 2016 charge of enticing a minor, after Trump pardoned him. The matter is still pending. Taake now claims in the 30-page complaint that he began to notice physical changes soon after receiving what he believed to be routine treatments from medical staff at a federal institution. He claims that jail officials never informed him the injections contained estrogen or other female hormones.
#BREAKING Andrew Quentin Taake was arrested by FBI Houston today in connection to the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol. Taake is charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and obstruction of an official proceeding, among other federal charges. #HouNews pic.twitter.com/8l0jFIW8R6
— FBI Houston (@FBIHouston) July 23, 2021
Taake claims that he eventually developed breasts, experienced testicular shrinkage, and other ‘feminizing’ effects. According to the lawsuit, these modifications allegedly constitute “forced medical experimentation on a captive population,” which is a breach of his constitutional rights.
Taake already suffered from hypogonadism, a disorder marked by abnormally low testosterone levels. Doctors identified Taake’s hypogonadism as early as 2016, according to his federal complaint, which he filed in September 2025.
Weekly testosterone injections were part of his prescribed treatment. But according to the lawsuit, doctors gave him hormone shots while he was confined. This went against his authorized course of treatment and caused unanticipated bodily changes.
Taake maintains that he never gave his permission for hormone therapy or gender-affirming medical treatment. Rather, he contends that medical professionals in prison disregarded his worries and did not offer appropriate medical care.
Another one bites the dust!#MacerInBlack SENTENCED
for his role in the January 6 coup
74 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, $2,000 in restitution.
Andrew Quentin Taake of Houston, TX#Insider1324#FBI257#J6 #January6th #insurrectionist #Traitors #terrorist https://t.co/Rm1GykBdYD pic.twitter.com/JjZAFABeqD— Rocketman (@rocketman2001) June 5, 2024
According to the complaint, Taake received cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment as a result of the carelessness and willful indifference of the Bureau of Prisons and its director, Colette S. Peters.
The claim goes one step further and connects emotional and psychological distress to the purported injections. Taake is requesting medical assistance to stop the hormonal changes, as well as undisclosed damages.
Taake has already garnered public notoriety for his involvement in the disturbance; he was detained in 2021 when federal investigators claimed he used pepper spray and a whip-like instrument to attack Capitol police officers.
Andrew Quentin Taake, from Pearland TX, had a long criminal history before he assaulted Capitol police officers. His arrest in 2014 for possession and assault is one of the things that led to his identification for crimes at the US Capitol on #J6. https://t.co/yDztZ7deen https://t.co/OB1XsWHS6D pic.twitter.com/jltfeRQqSs
— Rocketman (@rocketman2001) May 3, 2024
His case now gives the increasing number of cases brought against the federal government by January 6 defendants an odd twist. Few people have reported involuntary medical transformation, although many have voiced complaints about the circumstances in the D.C. jail or alleged political persecution.
There are many obstacles in Taake’s lawsuit. He will need to demonstrate that the physical changes he reports were brought on by the hormone injections rather than by other illnesses, as well as that he had them without his consent. Unless plaintiffs can clearly demonstrate constitutional infractions, federal agencies are generally immune from prisoner claims.
The government has not yet submitted a response, and the lawsuit is still in its early phases. It’s still not clear if the judge will reject the claim outright or let it move forward to discovery.
