PITTSBURGH — The man selected to be Pittsburgh’s next police chief had been the subject of a criminal investigation in Maryland.
Jason Lando resigned on Thursday as police chief in Frederick, Maryland.
He was accused of sending disparaging and harassing text messages to a former corporal. The sheriff’s office traced the text messages back to Lando.
Investigators referred the case to the state prosecutor’s office, which declined to pursue the case.
Chief investigator Rick Earle spoke with Lando Thursday evening.
He provided us with a letter from the state prosecutor’s office, which he says cleared him of any wrongdoing.
The Office of the Mayor of Frederick sent 11 Investigates a statement, saying that since Lando resigned, their investigation will now be closed.
“As a matter of policy the criminal investigation, even though he was cleared, would lead us to conduct our own internal 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.”
Lando provided the following statement to Channel 11:
“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 Corporal (---) 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.”
The former corporal, who received the text messages, disputed Lando’s claims about excessive force.
“Chief Lando’s public statement regarding my alleged ‘excessive force history’ or ‘prior use of force incidents’ is false and defamatory. For the record, I have never been found to have used excessive force, nor have I ever been disciplined for excessive force.”
Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor, who nominated Lando as the next chief, sent the following statement:
“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”.
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