Former Police Lieutenant Sentenced to 18 Months for Lying About Ties to Proud Boys Leader Enrique Tarrio
- Victor Nwoko
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
A retired police lieutenant has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for obstructing justice and lying to federal authorities about leaking confidential law enforcement information to Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys extremist group. The case centered on an investigation into Tarrio’s role in burning a Black Lives Matter banner in Washington, D.C., in December 2020.
Shane Lamond, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau, was found guilty in December of one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued the sentence after concluding Lamond had betrayed public trust and interfered with an ongoing investigation.
According to prosecutors, Lamond had tipped Tarrio off about the investigation and a signed arrest warrant, giving him real-time updates through encrypted messages. Tarrio, who testified in Lamond’s defense, was present at the sentencing and afterward called for a presidential pardon, stating, “I ask that the Justice Department and the President of the United States step in and correct the injustice that I just witnessed inside this courtroom.”
Lamond’s legal team argued that prison time was unnecessary, claiming their client gained no personal benefit from the communications with Tarrio and was only trying to monitor potentially violent protest activity in Washington, D.C. “Mr. Lamond gained nothing... and only sought, albeit in a sloppy and ineffective way, to gain intelligence,” his attorneys wrote.
However, Judge Jackson found the testimony of both Lamond and Tarrio lacking in credibility, stating that Lamond was not using Tarrio as a law enforcement source following the December 12, 2020, banner burning incident. “It was the other way around,” Jackson said, emphasizing that Lamond had provided sensitive updates to Tarrio and not the reverse.
Lamond, who retired in May 2023 after 23 years with the police department, had met Tarrio in 2019 while overseeing intelligence operations related to extremist groups visiting the nation’s capital. At the time of their communication, Tarrio was under investigation for stealing and burning a banner from a historic Black church, for which he later pleaded guilty.
Though Tarrio was not physically present at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021, riot, a jury found him guilty of orchestrating a seditious conspiracy to block the peaceful transfer of power following Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.
Federal prosecutors described Lamond’s actions as an “egregious obstruction of justice” and accused him of betraying the Metropolitan Police Department by acting as a “double agent” for the Proud Boys. In messages reviewed during the investigation, Lamond expressed support for the group, writing, “Of course I can’t say it officially, but personally I support you all and don’t want to see your group’s name and reputation dragged through the mud.”
Lamond, who lives in Colonial Beach, Virginia, denied sympathizing with the Proud Boys and testified that he had considered Tarrio a source, not a friend, and that his goal was to gain intelligence by building rapport.
Despite those claims, the evidence showed a pattern of communication and concealment that ultimately led to Lamond’s conviction and prison sentence.
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