A Washington D.C. police lieutenant tasked with overseeing the department’s intelligence branch was arrested on Friday and charged with lying to authorities about his communications with a former Proud Boys leader, which included a tip about his impending arrest.
Shane Lamond, 47, was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. He was previously placed on administrative leave by the Metropolitan Police Department in February 2022.
Lamond was allegedly in regular contact with former Proud Boys chair Enrique Tarrio between July 2019 and January 2021. In that timeframe, they exchanged hundreds of messages “using cloud-based messaging services, including Google Voice, Apple iMessages, and Telegram, an encrypted messaging application,” the indictment said.
The officer started providing information to Tarrio about law enforcement activity relating to the Proud Boys group in Washington, D.C. Tarrio would in turn disseminate the information to other members of the far-right group and they would take action as necessary. In one instance, he offered Tarrio confidential details about an investigation into the destruction of a #BLACKLIVESMATTER banner belonging to a church.
Lamond also attempted to convince members of another MPD unit that Tarrio and his group were not racists, according to the indictment.
“I told them you are made up [of] a lot of Latinos and blacks so not a racist thing. If anything I said it’s political but then I drew attention to the Trump and American flags that were taken by Antifa and set on fire,” Lamond wrote in a message. “I said all those would have to be classified as hate crimes too.”
While on a flight from Miami to the Washington, D.C., area on Jan. 4, 2021, Tarrio told another person that he learned from Lamond he was going to be arrested for the burning of that banner. He was taken into custody by officers later the same day. He was eventually sentenced to more than five months in jail.
The pair continued to talk after the Jan. 6 riots, with Lamond saying he hoped that none of the Proud Boys would be arrested, according to the indictment.
“Of course I can’t say it officially, but personally I support you all and don’t want to see your group’s name or reputation dragged through the mud,” Lamond said.
Tarrio, along with three others, was recently found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol attack. He was not in Washington, D.C. at the time because of his arrest for burning the banner.