An FBI agent testified Wednesday that a Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department officer told the leader of the Proud Boys that he might be arrested in the days before January 6, 2021.
Agent Peter Dubrowski told a jury in the seditious conspiracy trial against five members of the far-right group about Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio’s relationship with Metropolitan Police Lt. Shane Lamond, whom Tarrio spoke with several times before the US Capitol riot.
Their relationship, Dubrowski testified, went beyond what was appropriate for a law enforcement agent talking to a source.
His testimony is part of a core disagreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys as to whether Tarrio, and the Proud Boys as a whole, wanted to help law enforcement or were prepared to be violent against them.
The defendants have all pleaded not guilty.
In several instances, Lamond appeared to warn Tarrio about aspects of the investigation into whether Tarrio burned a DC church’s Black Lives Matter flag in December 2020, Dubrowski testified. Tarrio was later charged with destruction of property for the flag burning and pleaded guilty.
Lamond was placed on administrative leave by the Metropolitan Police Department in February 2022, and was still on leave as of December 2022. MPD has not commented on the reasons why Lamond was placed on leave and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
“Lt. Lamond’s duties as the commander of the MPD Intelligence Branch required him to establish lines of communications with every group that came to protest or march in Washington, DC,” Lamond’s attorney Mark Schamel, a partner at Venable LLP, told CNN. Schamel said Lamond was “only communicating with these individuals because the mission required it. Lt. Lamond was instrumental in the arrest of the defendant for his burning of…
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