A former Washington D.C. police lieutenant will serve less than two years behind bars for tipping off Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio about his impending arrest, then lying to federal law enforcement officials about their communication.
Former Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Lt. Shane Lamond was found guilty in Dec. 2024 of obstructing justice and making false statements to federal law enforcement officials.
Federal prosecutors reported that Lamond was supposed to keep in touch with Tarrio about the Proud Boys’ planned activities in the District of Columbia as part of his job responsibilities. The two began regularly communicating in July 2019.
After the 2020 election, Lamond began using the messaging app Telegram to surreptitiously message Tarrio about law enforcement interests and activity connected to Proud Boys activities in D.C.
Lamond passed along confidential law enforcement information to Tarrio and other Proud Boys members, and warned Tarrio in January 2021 that police were planning to arrest him for the 2020 burning of a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a historic D.C. church.
Investigators never found the messages on Lamond’s phone, but a search of Tarrio’s phone revealed the texts and the self-destruct timers that Lamond enabled on them.
When he was interviewed by federal authorities, prosecutors say Lamond made false and misleading statements about his correspondence with Tarrio.
“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,” prosecutors said. “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.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who presided over Lamond’s case and convicted him, sentenced the ex-cop to 18 months in prison for his crimes. Prosecutors sought a four-year sentence for the retired police lieutenant, but the judge called the request “excessive.”
According to The Hill, Lamond told Jackson he “respectfully disagrees” with her verdict, but, “in retrospect,” agrees he erred in his communications with Tarrio. He testified in his own defense that his correspondence with Tarrio was part of an effort to gather intelligence on extremist groups, but the judge rejected the argument.
He said he believed that building rapport with Tarrio was part of his job, but described his efforts as “sloppy.”
“Frankly, I’m broken at this point,” added Lamond.
Jackson told Lamond his response was “quite the understatement,” and said his conduct was inconsistent with police practices, “unless you twist them until they’re unrecognizable.”
The judge also chastised Lamond for his conduct during the case, stating, “The entire attitude throughout has been, ‘How dare they bring these charges!’” WUSA reported.
During his trial, Jackson said Lamond “should have known better than this,” and added that he “repeatedly dishonored the badge.”
Tarrio called on President Donald Trump to pardon Lamond. Tarrio’s 22-year prison sentence for his plot and involvement in the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot was commuted by the president shortly after he returned to office. The Proud Boys leader was also supposed to spend five months in prison for burning the BLM banner, but that sentence was also vacated by the blanket clemency.
Tarrio testified at Lamond’s trial, claiming that the former officer never warned him about his arrest, but prosecutors pointed to the self-destructing messages.
Lamond must surrender himself to law enforcement to start serving his sentence on Aug. 1.
