The messages showed Shane Lamond warning “Enrique” Tarrio that the police could issue an arrest warrant
A police officer frequently passed internal law enforcement information to the Proud Boys leader in the weeks leading up to the Congressional uprising on 6 January, a US court heard.
On Wednesday, jurors in the trial of Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and 4 co-conspirators were presented with a series of private messages between Tarrio and Shane Lamond, an intelligence officer with the Washington DC Police Department.
On 25 December 2020, Lamond told Tarrio that Metropolitan police detectives had asked him to identify a member of the Proud Boys, warning that police officers could issue an arrest warrant.
On the day he was taken into custody, Tarrio texted other Proud Boys leaders saying, “The warrant has just been signed.”
According to The Independent, the Proud Boys member was detained in Washington just two days before the US Congressional riots and charged with a legal offence for burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historic black church during a protest in December 2020.
Tarrio, who was released from prison before the riots began, was reportedly not in Washington on 6 January.
FBI special agent and US government witness Peter Dubrowski, when asked about the messages by Justice Department prosecutor Conor Mulroe, said he had “never heard” of a situation where it was considered normal for law enforcement to disclose internal information in this way.
Tarrio’s lawyer, Sabino Jauregui, said other messages showed that the national president of the Proud Boys routinely co-operated with police and shared useful information with Lamond, who was tasked with monitoring groups like the Proud Boys when they came to Washington to protest.
Jauregui said prosecutors had “tarnished [Lamond’s] good name” and falsely implied that he was a “corrupt cop” who had an inappropriate relationship with Tarrio.
Tarrio’s lawyers also accused prosecutors of bullying Lamond into silence. The lawyers said prosecutors said the officer could be prosecuted for obstructing the investigation into Tarrio.
Prosecutors denied this allegation.
source: Sharq al-Awsat
