Hey, brother, you're in deep shit now:
A D.C. police lieutenant was arrested Friday on charges that he warned the leader of the far-right Proud Boys of his imminent arrest just days before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, and then lied to investigators afterward about the scope of their interactions.
Shane Lamond, a 24-year veteran of the D.C. police and then the department’s head of intelligence [ed.: !!], entered a not guilty plea to an indictment on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. Prosecutors allege that Lamond leaked information to Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio as they discussed the group’s protest plans in D.C. in 2020 and January 2021, when Lamond’s duties included monitoring extremist groups.
Lamond, 47, of Stafford, Va., falsely denied tipping off Tarrio about the progress of an investigation and that he would be arrested on Jan. 4, 2021, for his part in burning a Black Lives Matter flag stolen from a historic African American church during a pro-Trump rally weeks earlier, according to the indictment. [snip]
The indictment states that in key moments after the November 2020 presidential election and after Jan. 6, Lamond appeared to commiserate and trade information with Tarrio.
“Hey brother, sad, sad news today. You all planning anything?” Lamond asked on Nov. 7, 2021, the day news media declared Joe Biden the election winner. “Yep,” Tarrio replied, according to the indictment.
“Need to switch to encrypted. Alerts are being sent out to LE [law enforcement] that [Parler social networking] accounts belonging to your people are talking about mobilizing and ‘taking back the country,’” Lamond added later that day. “Getting people spun up. Just giving you a heads up.”
On Jan. 7, one day after the violence, Tarrio confessed to Lamond in a Telegram message, “I think I could have stopped this whole thing,” Friday’s indictment alleged.
Lamond expressed sympathy, alluding to another person whose name was redacted and identified by prosecutors only as “Person 6,” whose actions appear to align with those of Infowars.com founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
“I don’t know, bro. You know it’s f---ing bad when [Person 6] was the voice of reason and they wouldn’t listen to him. He got on the bullhorn and urged everyone to stop attacking the police and march around the US Capitol and they ignored him.”
“Of course I can’t say it officially,” Lamond added on Jan. 8, “but personally I support you all and don’t want to see your group’s name or reputation dragged through the mud.” [snip]
Lamond faces a mandatory three-year minimum sentence and up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the obstruction of justice charge. The false statement counts are each punishable by up to five years.
There are more incriminating details at the link.
Lt. Lamond and his "brother" right- wing MAGAt insurrectionists -- the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, etc. -- are being flushed out one by one and prosecuted for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. His defense that he was "just doing his job" gathering intelligence is belied by the number of false statement he made to cover his tracks. Maybe once he's behind bars with his "brother" Tarrio, they can make him an open, full- fledged member of the Proud Boys.
BONUS: Wonkette has more detail, including a few transcriptions, if you're of a mind to delve a bit deeper.
(Photo: "Brother" Lamond/ Patrick Semansky, AP)
