On the left side of the image, Washington Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond is seen leaving federal court after entering a plea of not guilty to charges of obstruction of justice and other offenses on May 19, 2023, in Washington. The photo credit goes to AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File. On the right side, a picture shows Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys participating in a demonstration near Freedom Plaza during the Million Maga March protest related to the election results on November 14, 2020, in Washington D.C. Photo credit for this image goes to Chris Tuite/imageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX.
A Washington, D.C., police officer worked as a “double agent” ahead of the Jan. 6, Capitol riot, tipping off the national chairman of the Proud Boys about his impending arrest so he could organize the group’s role in the riot. Shane Lamond, who once headed the Metropolitan Police Department’s Intelligence Branch, was convicted on one count of obstruction of justice as well as three counts of lying to investigators, authorities announced.
Lamond was convicted following a seven-day bench trial in which U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that the retired police officer was leaking confidential information to Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio. Specifically, Lamond was found guilty of obstructing an investigation into the December 2020 destruction of a Black Lives Matter (BLM) banner and for lying to federal authorities about tipping off Tarrio about his impending arrest.
Lamond denied leaking information to Tarrio when he testified during his trial and Tarrio testified that he did not receive any confidential information from the defendant, The Associated Press reported.
But Jackson was not remotely convinced, highlighting the string of messages between the two and referring to Tarrio as an “awful witness” and “obnoxious.”
“He was one of the worst I’ve had the opportunity to sit next to during my tenure on the bench, Jackson said, according to the AP.
Tarrio is currently serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison for his role in organizing the Capitol riot, the longest sentence of any Jan. 6, defendant to date.
“As proven at trial, Lamond turned his job on its head — providing confidential information to a source, rather than getting information from him — lied about the conduct, and obstructed an investigation into the source,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew M. Graves said in a statement Monday. “The intelligence gathering role that Lamond was supposed to play is critical to keeping our community safe. His violation of the trust placed in him put our community more at risk and cannot be ignored.”
According to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office, Lamond Lamond and Tarrio beginning in July 2019 were in “regular contact” regarding Proud Boys planned activities in Washington as part of Lamond’s job responsibilities. However, after the 2020 election, Lamond began communicating with Tarrio via the Telegram encrypted app, providing him with information about law enforcement’s knowledge about Proud Boys’ activities in Washington.
“Lamond leaked sensitive police information to a criminal suspect, and lied about it to investigators,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein told Berman, according to The Washington Post. “The evidence will show that the defendant was a Proud Boys sympathizer. The defendant became a double agent.”
Prosecutors said that on Dec. 18, 2020, Lamond provided Tarrio with information into the investigation of the Dec. 12, 2020, burning of a banner that read “#BLACKLIVESMATTER,” even though Tarrio was the prime subject in that investigation. Tarrio subsequently disseminated the information to his organization.
Lamond on Jan. 4, 2021, sent Tarrio a “message set to self-destruct” that a warrant for his arrest had been signed as Tarrio was on a flight from Florida to Arlington, Virginia, which is adjacent to Washington. Shortly after landing, Tarrio was arrested and pleaded guilty to one count of destruction of property in connection with the banner burning.
Despite Tarrio’s arrest, authorities say Lamond continued to lie about their communications.
“On June 2, 2021, during an interview with federal law enforcement, Lamond made at least three false and misleading statements regarding his communications and contacts that formed the basis for the false statements convictions,” the release states. “These false and misleading statements related to (1) whether Lamond had notified Tarrio about the status of the MPD investigation into the banner burning; (2) whether Lamond notified Tarrio about Tarrio’s pending arrest warrant; and (3) the nature and scope of Lamond’s discussion with Tarrio prior to and after January 6.”
Lamond is currently scheduled to appear for his sentencing hearing on April 3, 2025. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years for the obstruction charge and five years each for the false statement charges.
