WASHINGTON — A federal judge Monday found a former intelligence officer in the Washington police department guilty of obstruction of justice and lying to investigators, ruling that he had improperly concealed details about his relationship with Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right group the Proud Boys.

The former officer, Lt. Shane Lamond, had drawn attention from the Justice Department for cultivating an unusually close connection with Tarrio in the months leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. That relationship, prosecutors said, crossed into inappropriate conduct after Lamond leaked details about an investigation into Tarrio over his setting fire to a Black Lives Matter banner during a protest in Washington after the 2020 election.

In her ruling, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of U.S. District Court in Washington said the hundreds of messages she reviewed between Lamond and Tarrio illustrated that Lamond had been undermining his colleagues with “entirely unauthorized” back channeling with Tarrio.

– The Associated Press