Supply: EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI / Getty
Federal prosecutors revealed messages {that a} D.C. police officer exchanged with the chief of the Proud Boys earlier than the January sixth revolt throughout his trial.
On Wednesday (Feb.fifteenth) within the trial of the far-right group’s chief, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, and 4 associates, prosecutors for the federal authorities introduced a collection of textual content messages between him and Metropolitan Police Lt. Shane Lamond. These messages included inside data that Lamond shared with Tarrio. Lamond was an intelligence officer with the Metropolitan Police tasked with investigating the group, and a 23-year veteran of the pressure.
One trade on December 18th, 2020 featured Lamond asking Tarrio if he had known as in an nameless tip claiming his accountability in burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a traditionally Black church in downtown Washington D.C. after a Trump rally. Tarrio responded that he had carried out “greater than that”, confirming he shared the deed on social media. On the identical day, Tarrio had expressed to different Proud Boys members that he “received the leap on the narrative” on the burning in an effort to make it tough to cost him with a hate crime. He cited his “contact at DC Metro”, advising these members to maintain the data to themselves. Tarrio would additionally get phrase that he was to be arrested on January 4th, 2021, altering the settings in his chat with Lamond to have messages “self-destruct”.
One other startling trade passed off per week later as Lamond knowledgeable Tarrio that he had ID’d Tarrio to the legal investigation division in a photograph the chief had posted to Parler. “They could be submitting an arrest warrant to the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace,” he wrote. Justice Division prosecutor Conor Mulroe requested FBI Particular Agent Peter Dubrowski if he had ever noticed legislation enforcement disclosing delicate data in that method, to which Dubrowski replied, “I’ve by no means heard of it. I see no profit [to law enforcement].” Sabino Jauregui, Tarrio’s legal professional, acknowledged to the choose when the jury was eliminated that additional exploration of Lamond’s texts would present that Tarrio offered heavy data to federal and native authorities to assist stem the injury from the riots on January sixth.
In a press release launched that day, Lamond’s legal professional Mark Schamel stated that the officer (who was positioned on administrative depart in February 2022) aided in Tarrio’s arrest for the banner burning and that his job “was applicable and all the time centered on the safety of the residents of Washington, DC.”
