Ex-D.C. police officer convicted of mendacity about leaks to far-right Proud Boys chief | USAEMALL.com

A retired Washington, D.C., police officer was convicted Monday of lying to authorities about leaking confidential information to the leader of the far-right Proud Boys.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson convicted former Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond, who used to supervise the intelligence branch of the police department’s Homeland Security Bureau, of obstructing justice and making false statements after a trial without a jury.

Sentencing was scheduled for April 3 after Lamond was convicted on all four counts. He was charged with leaking information to then-Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was under investigation in the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner.

At his bench trial, Lamond testified that he had never provided Tarrio with sensitive police information. Tarrio testified as a witness for Lamond’s defense and said he did not confess to Lamond about burning the banner and didn’t receive any confidential information from him.

But the judge did not find the testimony of either Lamond or Tarrio to be credible. Jackson said the evidence indicated that Lamond was not using Tarrio as a source after the banner burning.

“It was the other way around,” she said.

The judge said the string of messages that Lamond and Tarrio exchanged over the course of months revealed a pattern: “Lamond and Tarrio talk, and Tarrio immediately disseminates what he learns,” Jackson said.

She referred to Tarrio as an “awful witness” who was “flippant, grandiose and obnoxious” on the stand.

“He was one of the worst I’ve had the opportunity to sit next to during my tenure on the bench,” Jackson said.

After the verdict, defense attorney Mark Schamel said it was premature to say if there would be an appeal.

“It’s unbelievably disappointing to see every single thing that Lt. Lamond did viewed through a lens to make it appear to be something other than it was,” Schamel said outside the courtroom. “There is nothing disloyal about him at all, and it’s a sad day for him.”

Tarrio eventually 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 prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, part of what prosecutors called a plot to use force keep Donald Trump in the White House after the 2020 election.

Lamond, who met Tarrio in 2019, had supervised the intelligence branch of the police department’s Homeland Security Bureau. He was responsible for monitoring groups like the Proud Boys when they came to Washington.

Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The Miami resident wasn’t at the Capitol when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building and interrupted the congressional count of the electoral votes finalizing Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

Prosecutors said the trial evidence proved Lamond tipped off Tarrio that a warrant for his arrest had been signed.

“Similarly, the defendant affirmatively advised Mr. Tarrio in a written message that he was being asked to identify him for a warrant, a warning obviously in contemplation of the subsequent prosecution and with obvious ramifications for it,” prosecutors wrote.

Lamond’s indictment says he and Tarrio exchanged messages about the Jan. 6 riot and discussed whether Proud Boys members were in danger of being charged in the attack.

“Of course I can’t say it officially, but personally I support you all and don’t want to see your group’s name and reputation dragged through the mud,” Lamond wrote.

Lamond said 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 don’t support the Proud Boys, and I’m not a Proud Boys sympathizer,” Lamond testified.

Lamond said he considered Tarrio to be a source, not a friend. But he said he tried to build a friendly rapport with the group leader to gain his trust.

Justice Department prosecutor Joshua Rothstein pointed to messages that suggest Lamond provided 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 count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. He retired in May 2023 after 23 years of service to the police department.