D.C. police lieutenant charged with relaying info to Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio

Washington —  A lieutenant with the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department was arrested Thursday and accused of obstructing an investigation into the Proud Boys and leaking information to its leader, Enrique Tarrio.

Shane Lamond, 47, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on one count of obstruction and three counts of lying to federal law enforcement, including about notifying Tarrio about an impending arrest warrant and sharing sensitive law enforcement information with the Proud Boys leader. Tarrio and three of his subordinates in the Proud Boys were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other felonies earlier this month their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Lamond, a 24-year-veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, is expected to be arraigned before a federal magistrate judge in district court Thursday. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison for obstruction of justice and up to five years in prison for each charge of making a false statement. 

The D.C. police department said it will conduct an internal investigation into the incident involving Lamond after criminal proceedings conclude. The officer was placed on administrative leave in February 2022 as the department cooperated with the federal investigation into Lamond's alleged conduct.

"We understand this matter sparks a range of emotions, and believe the allegations of this member's actions are not consistent of our values and our commitment to the community," the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement.

According to a 17-page indictment returned by a federal grand jury, Lamond, who supervised the Intelligence Branch of the D.C. police's Homeland Security Bureau, was in regular contact with Tarrio beginning in July 2019 and through at least January 2021 about the Proud Boys' planned activities in the capital. 

Federal prosecutors said Lamond and Tarrio communicated at least 500 times through a variety of messaging systems and phone calls, including the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Lamond started using Telegram to share information with Tarrio about law enforcement activity relating to the Proud Boys around July 2020, and changed the settings of his Telegram app on numerous occasions to make some messages delete soon after they were viewed, the indictment claims.

In one text message exchange on Nov. 7, 2020, after news organizations projected that President Biden had won the 2020 presidential election, Lamond messaged Tarrio, "Hey brother, sad, sad news today. You all planning anything?" to which Tarrio replied, "Yep."

That afternoon, Lamond urged Tarrio to "switch to encrypted," as alerts were being sent to law enforcement that social media accounts belonging to the Proud Boys "are talking about mobilizing and 'taking back the country.'"

"Just giving you a heads up," Lamond wrote, according to the indictment.

Several days later, on Nov. 13, Lamond allegedly warned Tarrio on Telegram that a Washington bar frequented by Proud Boys members was at risk of being shut down, and then that the D.C. Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration was "already on scene."

Tarrio and other Proud Boys members attended a rally in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020, in protest of the 2020 election, after which Tarrio stole and burned a Black Lives Matter banner from the Asbury United Methodist Church.

The Metropolitan Police Department opened an investigation into the theft and burning, and received an anonymous tip on Dec. 18, 2020, that Tarrio was behind the actions. Several days later, on Dec. 30, law enforcement sought and received a warrant to arrest Tarrio for destruction of property.

Tarrio was arrested on Jan. 4, 2021, after flying from Miami to Arlington, Virginia, and traveling into D.C. He pleaded guilty to one count of destruction of property in connection with the burning of the banner.

During the course of D.C. police's investigation, Lamond and Tarrio remained in "regular contact" about the probe and Tarrio's involvement in destroying the banner, according to prosecutors. On Dec. 18, 2020, after Lamond learned of the anonymous tip fingering Tarrio, Lamond allegedly told the Proud Boys leader on Telegram about the tip and said he would "check in with our [Criminal Investigations Division] people if they have you on video."

Later that day, Lamond told Tarrio he had been talking to the division about the Proud Boys and whether their members are racist, prosecutors alleged.

"I told them you are made up 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. I said all those would have to be classified as hate crimes too," Lamond wrote, according to the indictment.

He later told Tarrio he didn't believe police had photos of him. Tarrio went on and shared the information from Lamond with other Proud Boys members, the Justice Department said.

On Dec. 19, 2020, Lamond told Tarrio via an encrypted chat that police wanted to speak with him about the banner. On Dec. 25, he informed the Proud Boys leader that the Criminal Investigations Division "had me ID you from a photo you posted on [social media] kneeling down next to the BLM banner so they may be submitting an arrest warrant to US Attorney's Office," the indictment states.

Prosecutors allege Tarrio and Lamond spoke on the phone on Dec. 30, after which Tarrio sent encrypted messages on Telegram to Proud Boys members informing them about possible charges against him, writing "It just the misdemeanor. Not hate crime." Then, on Jan. 1, 2021, Tarrio sent several messages to an unidentified person stating, "DC metro submitted an arrest warrant to the Attorneys office… Destruction of property. No hate crime enhancement… But he says he doesn't think they're going to sign off on it… Because they're afraid I'll take it to trial and their argument is weak."

While Tarrio was aboard a flight to Washington on Jan. 4, 2021, Lamond sent a message to Tarrio, after which the Proud Boys leader sent several messages to an unidentified person "containing information he received from Lamond," prosecutors allege, including the news that his arrest warrant was signed.

In response to questions about when or where he could be arrested, Tarrio replied, "don't know if my contact will tell me that." He relayed the information about his arrest warrant to other Proud Boys members.

Tarrio and Lamond also allegedly discussed the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, with Lamond asking Tarrio on Dec. 19 if the Proud Boys were going to participate in the rally. They also discussed the attack and the involvement of the Proud Boys in the days after Jan. 6. Prosecutors detailed the messages in the indictment.

"I think I could have stopped this whole thing," Tarrio wrote to Lamond on Telegram on Jan. 7.

Lamond then asked Tarrio, "how you holding up? I checked on your charges and the Poss of High Capacity Mags is a felony." The officer called Jan. 6 a "total s**tshow."

Later on Jan. 7, Tarrio told Lamond, "I have someone you guys might be looking for," and named an unidentified woman. "She had Maryland police go to her house yesterday. … She thinks they came because of the Capitol stuff," he wrote.

"Copy," Lamond responded. "Not that I'm aware of offhand but i will check."

Tarrio then said he would have the woman turn herself in if "she's on your list." Lamond allegedly obtained a list of suspects the FBI identified in its investigation into Jan. 6 and told Lamond the woman was "not on our list."

On Jan. 8, during an exchange about arrests stemming from the Capitol assault, Lamond told Tarrio, "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."

Federal officers interviewed Lamond about his contacts with Tarrio on June 2, 2021, and he allegedly "knowingly and willfully made several false statements to them." Lamond told officers that many of his conversations with Tarrio were "one-sided" and involved the Proud Boys leader sharing his group's plans. Lamond said they "maybe" communicated through Telegram, according to court filings.

When asked about the investigation into the Black Lives Matter banner and Tarrio's subsequent arrest, Lamond said he was trying not to tip Tarrio off to the Metropolitan Police Department's probe, the indictment states. Lamond later told officers that, "I know that I didn't, you know, inform him that he had an arrest warrant."