Global Courant 2023-05-20 03:14:28
The leader of a Washington, D.C. police intelligence unit is accused of tipping off the leader of the far-right group.
The head of a United States police intelligence unit is facing criminal charges after allegedly alerting the leader of the far-right Proud Boys group to an arrest warrant and leaking other law enforcement information, according to an indictment released Friday.
Lieutenant Shane Lamond of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., is accused of giving Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio confidential information, the U.S. Justice Department said.
The information related to an investigation into the 2020 burning of a “Black Lives Matter” banner stolen from a church in the US capital. Lamond is also accused of tipping off Tarrio that he could be arrested in this case.
Lamond, who oversaw the intelligence arm of the police’s Homeland Security Bureau, also made false and misleading statements to federal law enforcement officials about his communications with Tarrio, the Justice Department said.
A federal grand jury indicted Lamond on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. He was arrested Friday and faces up to 30 years in prison.
Police said Lamond, who has worked for the police for 24 years, was placed on administrative leave in February 2022 due to the Justice Department’s investigation.
A lawyer for Lamond did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the indictment, Lamond and Tarrio had been in regular contact since 2019. Prosecutors disclosed communications between the two, including a text exchange following the 2020 presidential election in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump.
Lamond wrote: “Hey brother, sad, sad news today. You’re all planning something.’
“Yes,” Tarrio replied.
Tarrio pleaded guilty to charges in the Black Lives Matter banner case and was sentenced to five months in prison in 2021.
A jury in a separate case this month convicted Tarrio and other members of the Proud Boys of seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
