PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor said Friday that he still has complete confidence in his Police Chief nominee, Jason Lando, despite a criminal investigation that ultimately cleared Lando of any wrongdoing in Maryland earlier this month.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> Pittsburgh police chief nominee was under criminal investigation in Maryland
11 Investigates learned that the investigation began back in August when a retired officer from where Lando had served as police chief started receiving anonymous text messages and called the Sheriff’s Office to file a complaint.
According to a report from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland, Frederick City Police Chief Jason Lando’s phone was linked to the anonymous and disparaging text messages sent to a retired corporal from his department.
Below are excerpts of some of the text messages contained in the investigative report.
“So what’s it like being such an (expletive) loser that you can’t just go enjoy retirement?”
“We all know how much you hate Lando.”
“It’s sad you turned into this whacko Facebook troll.”
The report said Lando used a burner app to conceal his identity.
Investigators obtained a search warrant and a court order to get the data.
No charges were ever filed and Lando was cleared by the State Prosecutor in Maryland.
Lando provided 11 Investigates with the letter he received from the Prosecutor’s office that stated, “Our office has found no violations of criminal law.”
The Maryland Prosecutor’s office also said the case will be closed.
Lando claims he’s been the target of relentless harassment on social media after holding the former officer accountable for two excessive force cases.
“Law enforcement leaders are frequently criticized for failing to hold bad cops accountable. Unfortunately, doing the right thing is rarely the easy thing, and sometimes comes with negative consequences. To that end, over the past two years, I have been the target of relentless harassment by retired Frederick Police (--), after I held him accountable for two incidents where he was found to have used excessive force on Frederick citizens. Rather than accepting responsibility for violating his oath as a police officer, (--)instead elected to launch a smear campaign, in an attempt to ruin my reputation. It is important to note that the allegations lodged by (--) were investigated by Maryland’s Office of the State Prosecutor and were deemed to be unfounded,” said Lando.
In a statement to 11 Investigates, the retired officer said he was never disciplined for excessive force, and never found to have used excessive force.
He called Lando’s comments false and defamatory.
Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor, meanwhile, said he’s standing by his pick for chief.
He sent a statement to 11 Investigates.
“Chief Lando has a record as a longtime advocate for police, justice, and community relations, and he is widely respected by both officers and the community. I think that his reputation and his accomplishments with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police speaks for itself”, said O’Connor.
Pittsburgh Council member Bob Charland was just learning about the allegations, when Earle spoke with him Friday morning.
Earle: Does this derail his nomination?
Charland: I can’t say that yet. My interactions with Chief Lando, this did not seem like something that would be his character or something he would have done without more history around it, so I really don’t have much comment on that yet.
Lando spent most of his career in Pittsburgh before leaving five years ago to take the job in Frederick, Maryland.
He must still go before the city council for a confirmation hearing.
That will happen next month.
Earle said council members will likely question him about all of this.
The Mayor of Frederick, Maryland, also released a statement.
“As a matter of policy, the criminal investigation, even though he was cleared, would lead us to conduct our own internal investigation to determine if any city policies or procedures had been violated. Because Jason is no longer employed with the City, what we knew as of Wednesday will be written up and placed in his personnel file and the matter will be administratively closed. That is the extent of it,” said Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor, who is not related to Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor.
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