Shane Lamond, a 24-year department veteran, helped the far-right group when he leaked word to leader Henry Tarrio that a warrant had been signed for his arrest for burning a Black Lives Matter flag stolen from an African American church.
By Spencer S. Hsu, Rachel Weiner and Tom Jackman, The Washington PostWashington Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond departs federal court after pleading not guilty to obstruction of justice and other charges, Friday, May 19, 2023, in Washington. Lamond is accused of lying about leaking confidential information to a leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group and obstructing an investigation after group members destroyed a Black Lives Matter banner in Washington.
Lamond, 48, of Stafford, Virginia, headed D.C. police’s intelligence unit at the time. He pleaded not guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements.The obstruction charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, and the federal false statement counts are each punishable by up to five years.
When Lamond first asked Tarrio about rumblings of an election protest on Jan. 6, 2021, the officer asked if the Proud Boys would be there, court records showed. “If we do, it’ll be extremely small and not in colors … no night March,” Tarrio replied. In truth, a large group of Proud Boys and affiliates gathered at the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, ignoring the rally held by then-President Donald Trump.
The week-long trial spotlighted D.C. police interactions with extremist groups in 2020 and 2021, when liberal groups accused police of appearing to favor right-leaning organizations. Prosecutors accused Lamond of making three false statements in an interview with two U.S. attorney’s office investigators on June 2, 2021: claiming that his communications were mostly “one-sided” from the Proud Boys leader, when Lamond knew he regularly passed on confidential law enforcement information; denying that he tipped off Tarrio about the flag-burning investigation; and denying that he informed Tarrio of his arrest warrant.
Prosecutors said no one else in contact with Tarrio on the plane knew about the warrant. Lamond’s defense countered that in both instances, there was no direct evidence of what if anything Lamond said.
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