A retired Washington, D.C., police officer was convicted Monday of mendacity to authorities about leaking confidential info to the chief of the far-right Proud Boys.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson convicted former Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond, who used to oversee the intelligence department of the police division’s Homeland Security Bureau, of obstructing justice and making false statements after a trial with no jury.
Patrick Semansky / AP
Sentencing was scheduled for April 3 after Lamond was convicted on all 4 counts. He was charged with leaking info to then-Proud Boys nationwide chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was underneath investigation within the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner.
At his bench trial, Lamond testified that he had by no means supplied Tarrio with delicate police info. Tarrio testified as a witness for Lamond’s protection and mentioned he didn’t confess to Lamond about burning the banner and did not obtain any confidential info from him.
But the choose didn’t discover the testimony of both Lamond or Tarrio to be credible. Jackson mentioned the proof indicated that Lamond was not utilizing Tarrio as a supply after the banner burning.
“It was the opposite method round,” she mentioned.
The choose mentioned the string of messages that Lamond and Tarrio exchanged over the course of months revealed a sample: “Lamond and Tarrio discuss, and Tarrio instantly disseminates what he learns,” Jackson mentioned.
She referred to Tarrio as an “terrible witness” who was “flippant, grandiose and obnoxious” on the stand.
“He was one of many worst I’ve had the chance to take a seat subsequent to throughout my tenure on the bench,” Jackson mentioned.
After the decision, protection legal professional Mark Schamel mentioned it was untimely to say if there could be an attraction.
“It’s unbelievably disappointing to see each single factor that Lt. Lamond did seen by way of a lens to make it seem like one thing apart from it was,” Schamel mentioned exterior the courtroom. “There is nothing disloyal about him in any respect, and it is a unhappy day for him.”
Tarrio finally pleaded guilty to burning the banner stolen from a historic Black church in downtown Washington in December 2020.
He was later sentenced to 22 years in jail for his position within the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, a part of what prosecutors referred to as a plot to make use of pressure preserve Donald Trump within the White House after the 2020 election.
Lamond, who met Tarrio in 2019, had supervised the intelligence department of the police division’s Homeland Security Bureau. He was answerable for monitoring teams just like the Proud Boys once they got here to Washington.
Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days earlier than the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The Miami resident wasn’t on the Capitol when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the constructing and interrupted the congressional count of the electoral votes finalizing Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Prosecutors mentioned the trial proof proved Lamond tipped off Tarrio {that a} warrant for his arrest had been signed.
“Similarly, the defendant affirmatively suggested Mr. Tarrio in a written message that he was being requested to determine him for a warrant, a warning clearly in contemplation of the following prosecution and with apparent ramifications for it,” prosecutors wrote.
Lamond’s indictment says he and Tarrio exchanged messages concerning the Jan. 6 riot and mentioned whether or not Proud Boys members have been in peril of being charged within the assault.
“Of course I am unable to say it formally, however personally I assist you all and do not need to see your group’s title and fame dragged by way of the mud,” Lamond wrote.
Lamond mentioned he was upset {that a} prosecutor labeled him as a Proud Boys “sympathizer” who acted as a “double agent” for the group after Tarrio burned a stolen Black Lives Matter banner in December 2020.
“I do not assist the Proud Boys, and I’m not a Proud Boys sympathizer,” Lamond testified.
Lamond mentioned he thought of Tarrio to be a supply, not a buddy. But he mentioned he tried to construct a pleasant rapport with the group chief to achieve his belief.
Justice Department prosecutor Joshua Rothstein pointed to messages that recommend Lamond supplied Tarrio with “real-time updates” on the police investigation of the Dec. 12, 2020, banner burning.
Lamond, 48, of Colonial Beach, Virginia, was charged with one rely of obstruction of justice and three counts of constructing false statements. He retired in May 2023 after 23 years of service to the police division.
