The chief of a Washington, DC police intelligence unit faces allegations he tipped off the chief of the far-right group.
The pinnacle of a police intelligence unit in the USA is going through prison prices after allegedly warning the chief of the far-right Proud Boys group about an arrest warrant and leaking different regulation enforcement info, based on an indictment launched on Friday.
Lieutenant Shane Lamond of the Metropolitan Police Division in Washington, DC, is accused of giving Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio confidential info, the US Justice Division stated.
The knowledge pertained to an investigation into the 2020 burning of a “Black Lives Matter” banner stolen from a church within the US capital. Lamond can also be accused of tipping Tarrio off that he confronted arrest within the matter.
Lamond, who supervised the Intelligence Department of the police division’s Homeland Safety Bureau, additionally made false and deceptive statements to federal regulation enforcement brokers about his communications with Tarrio, the Justice Division stated.
A federal grand jury indicted Lamond on one depend of obstruction of justice and three counts of constructing false statements. He was arrested on Friday and faces a most of 30 years in jail.
The police division stated Lamond, who has labored for the power for twenty-four years, was positioned on administrative go away in February 2022 due to the Justice Division’s investigation.
A lawyer for Lamond didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In line with the indictment, Lamond and Tarrio had been in common contact since 2019. Prosecutors disclosed communications between the 2 together with a textual content trade after the 2020 presidential election, through which Democrat Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump.
Lamond wrote: “Hey brother, unhappy, unhappy information right now. You all planning something.”
“Yep,” Tarrio responded.
Tarrio pleaded responsible to prices within the Black Lives Matter banner case and was sentenced to 5 months in jail in 2021.
A jury in a separate case this month convicted Tarrio and different members of the Proud Boys of seditious conspiracy involving the assault in opposition to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, by Trump supporters.
