Former DC cop sentenced over contacts with ex-Proud Boys leader

WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge on Friday sentenced former D.C. Police Lieutenant Shane Lamond to 18 months in prison for tipping off ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio about his looming arrest in the days before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that Lamond had “betrayed his badge," his colleagues and D.C. residents when he informed Tarrio about a police investigation into his burning of a Black Lives Matter flag.

“It’s clear Tarrio was using Lamond as a source, not the other way around, and he was happy to help,” the Barack Obama appointee said as she passed down the sentence.

Tarrio, who attended Lamond’s sentencing with Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes, suggested outside the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in downtown Washington that President Donald Trump should pardon the officer, just as he did for Tarrio and approximately 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants.

Jackson convicted Lamond of one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements following a seven-day bench trial in late 2024.

During sentencing, Jackson rejected an assertion by Mark Schamel, Lamond’s defense attorney, that she should consider the possibility of a pardon when crafting her sentence.

“I’m going to do my job to the best of my ability, which I think is determining the right sentence,” Jackson said.

Speaking before his sentence, Lamond apologized for his actions. He said he had already suffered significant punishment in the form of the loss of his career, damage to his reputation and extensive media reporting on the case.

“I love MPD, and I love my city,” Lamond said. He argued that he’d wanted to obtain information from Tarrio that could prevent the kind of violence that ultimately occurred on Jan. 6.

Justice Department attorney Rebecca Ross was not impressed. She urged Jackson to sentence Lamond to 48 months in prison, citing his “egregious” conduct. She said the officer had undermined an active police investigation and was attempting to whitewash the severity of his actions in his sentencing memorandum.

“The MPD was able to bring Tarrio to justice not because of, but in spite of, defendant,” Ross said. She called on Jackson to reject Lamond’s request to be sentenced to just probation.

Jackson said she struggled to find evidence that Lamond was remorseful for his actions. Rather, she said, it seemed he was sorry for the consequences that followed.

She declined to sentence Lamond to the minimum 36 months suggested for his obstruction of justice charge. The crime carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

In the months leading up to the Nov. 7, 2020, elections and through Jan. 27, 2021, Lamond exchanged nearly 700 messages with Tarrio over iMessage and Telegram, evidence at trial showed. FBI special agent Elizabeth Hadley testified she’d recovered 676 messages between the pair, with several more either unrecoverable or intentionally deleted.

While on the witness stand, Tarrio — who was pardoned 16 months into a 22-year sentence for his role in planning Proud Boys’ violence on Jan. 6 — rejected prosecutors’ assertions that he received updates on the probe from Lamond.

When confronted with screenshots from the the nearly 700 messages, Tarrio refused to verify them, repeatedly stating he either couldn’t remember or did not trust evidence from Cellebrite — a digital extraction tool investigators regularly use to probe cellphones and computers.

Lamond first established contact with Tarrio to gather intelligence about Proud Boy movements during demonstrations. He would regularly share information with his superiors and intelligence officers from other agencies in and around Washington, Hadley testified.

The pair texted frequently through Dec. 12, 2020, when Tarrio attended a second so-called Million MAGA March and burned the Black Lives Matter flag.

On Dec. 13, the Metropolitan Police Department opened an investigation into the incident as a possible hate crime. Lamond texted Tarrio about the probe and set up an in-person meeting on Dec. 15. There, Tarrio said he admitted to burning the flag.

As the investigation progressed, Hadley said Lamond repeatedly undermined the probe by providing Tarrio real-time updates.

On Dec. 25, Lamond sent a self-deleting message to Tarrio, warning Tarrio that photographic evidence tied him to the flag burning and that an arrest warrant would soon follow. At the same time, Lamond was working to obtain Tarrio’s flight information before he returned to Washington on Jan. 4, 2021.

While Tarrio was en route, Lamond informed Tarrio that his arrest warrant had been signed — information Tarrio soon relayed to associates. Tarrio was then pulled over and arrested as he entered Washington.

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