After members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group destroyed a Black Lives Matter banner in the nation’s capital, a police officer was arrested on Friday for lying about leaking confidential information to a group leader and obstructing an investigation.
Lt. Shane Lamond, 47, of Stafford, Virginia, is accused in an indictment of warning former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio that police had an arrest warrant for Tarrio related to the destruction of the banner.
On January 6, 2021, Tarrio was arrested in Washington, DC, just two days before members of the Proud Boys joined a mob in storming the Capitol.
Tarrio and three others were found guilty of seditious conspiracy earlier this month, on charges related to a plot to keep President Donald Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election.
In Washington, Lamond was indicted by a federal grand jury on four perjury counts and one obstruction of justice. His first court appearance is set for this coming Friday.
Lamond’s lawyer, Mark Schamel, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. Schamel previously stated that it was Lamond’s responsibility to maintain open lines of communication with the many different protest organizations in Washington and that his behavior toward Tarrio was always professional.
Lamond, who oversaw the police department’s intelligence division and reported to the Homeland Security Bureau, frequently contacted Tarrio about the Proud Boys’ plans to disrupt government operations in the nation’s capital.
Over the course of nearly a year and a half, the two men allegedly exchanged at least 500 messages across multiple platforms, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors claim that a year after Lamond and Tarrio first began talking, in July 2020, Lamond started using the Telegram messaging platform to provide Tarrio with information about law enforcement activity. He had mentioned meeting Tarrio on a night out by November of that year.
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Lamond informed Tarrio in December 2020 about the likely whereabouts of rival antifascist activists. Prosecutors claim that Lamond asked Tarrio whether he should share the information Tarrio gave him about Proud Boys’ activities with others in the department.
The jurors who found Tarrio guilty heard evidence that Lamond regularly updated the Proud Boys leader on the status of law enforcement operations in the weeks leading up to the Capitol building siege.
Lamond warned Tarrio that the FBI and U.S. Secret Service were “all spun up” less than three weeks before the riot on January 6 due to rumors spread on an Infowars internet show that the Proud Boys intended to dress up as supporters of President Joe Biden on the day of the inauguration.
During a December 25, 2020 conversation, Lamond informed Tarrio that police investigators had asked him to identify Tarrio from a photograph positively. Lamond foreshadowed to Tarrio the possibility that authorities would seek an arrest warrant for him.
You can also see the tweet from Sherrilyn Ifill provided below:
D.C. police officer arrested, accused of leaking info to Proud Boys leader – The Washington Post https://t.co/a1KRISp60y
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) May 20, 2023
Tarrio later sent a message to the other leaders of the Proud Boys on the day of his arrest, stating, “The warrant was just signed.”
According to text messages introduced at Tarrio’s trial, Lamond frequently greeted the extremist group leader with “hey brother.”
Tarrio’s lawyers wanted to use Lamond as a witness at his trial to back up their claim that the Proud Boys leader was trying to avoid violence.
Still, his attorney argued that Lamond would refuse to testify due to his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
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