PITTSBURGH — The Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board told Channel 11 Chief Investigator Rick Earle that she believes there’s still more to the story that would explain Pittsburgh Police Chief nominee Jason Lando’s conduct. She hopes it will eventually come out during Pittsburgh City Council’s confirmation hearing.
In the meantime, the Mayor of Frederick, Maryland, who indicated to Earle last week that it wasn’t a big deal because Lando had stepped down and he was closing the book on it, had a much stronger message to his police force.
Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor, in an email to his police department obtained by 11 Investigates, called out his former Police Chief Jason Lando for allegedly sending anonymous, expletive-laced text messages to a retired Frederick police officer.
Below is an excerpt from the Mayor’s email.
“The sheriff’s office report...raised serious concerns for anyone employed by the city of Frederick, and especially for someone in a leadership position. If the facts in the report are true, it is conduct that does not meet the standards for employees of the city,” wrote Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor.
O’Connor was referring to a report from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office that traced anonymous text messages to a burner app linked to Lando.
Investigators had to get a court order and a search warrant to track down the data. After reviewing the case, the Maryland State Prosecutor found no violations of criminal law and closed the case.
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Lando claimed the retired officer was upset about disciplinary action and launched a smear campaign two years ago on social media to ruin his reputation.
Lando hasn’t denied sending the anonymous text, but says he never threatened or harassed the officer.
“I mean there’s no question it was unbecoming. It was silly. It was petty,” said Beth Pittinger, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board.
Pittinger knows Lando from his previous time in Pittsburgh, where he rose to commander.
She supports his nomination, believes he has a lot to offer the city, and suspects there’s more to the story in Frederick.
Earle: You don’t think this is a deal breaker from what you’ve seen so far?
Pittinger: I don’t think it should be because we don’t know the context. The public deserves to see the rest of the story, and that’s what’s missing right now, and that’s why it will be up to council to tease that out to figure out what in the world happened here.
The Mayor of Frederick also wrote in that email to employees that he told Lando last Tuesday he planned to conduct an administrative investigation and the next day, Lando resigned.
Earle also spoke with Lando, who said he will not be commenting any further and just wants this all to go away.
Earle also spoke with Pittsburgh Mayor-Elect Corey O’Connor and despite the controversy, he said he’s standing by his nominee.
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