Jason Lando, the police veteran tapped to become Pittsburgh’s next chief, was linked by criminal investigators to an account that sent expletive-laced text messages from anonymous ‘burner’ numbers earlier this year, according to a law enforcement report obtained by TribLive.

Lando, a Squirrel Hill native who served as a Pittsburgh officer for 21 years, was chief of the Frederick Police Department in Maryland at the time. He was listed as a suspect in the report by the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office.

An Aug. 5 complaint from a former corporal who worked under Lando triggered the investigation of what the sheriff’s office described as “telephone misuse,” a misdemeanor.

Lando was not charged, and the case was closed.

The sheriff’s report revolved around a half-dozen crude and critical text messages sent in July and August to Daniel Sullivan, a retired Frederick police corporal who was Lando’s subordinate. Both men told TribLive their relationship was marred by bad blood.

Sullivan told police the messages were “concerning and alarming,” the sheriff’s report said.

A search warrant revealed that the texts came from four anonymous phone numbers linked to a single account that was created and registered using Lando’s name and personal phone number, according to the report.

“Records show that all four numbers are linked to one account with a company known as ‘Burner,’ an app which allows a user to create and delete (‘burn’) anonymous phone numbers,” the report said. “Records show that the Burner account was created and registered using FPD Chief Jason Lando’s personal phone number.”

The report does not accuse Lando of sending the messages. It said authorities traced the texts to a Burner app account used to create fake phone numbers to mask a sender’s identity.

Lando on Saturday declined to answer TribLive when asked if he sent the abrasive texts.

“All I can say is this has been investigated and the investigation has been concluded,” Lando told TribLive. “I just don’t want to keep this thing going.”

The report provides the first details of a growing crisis for the incoming administration of Pittsburgh Mayor-Elect Corey O’Connor.

O’Connor ran his campaign, in part, on a pledge to restore stability to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, whose revolving door leadership under outgoing Mayor Ed Gainey frustrated many among the police rank-and-file.

News of the criminal investigation, which came to light Friday in Pittsburgh, comes three weeks before O’Connor takes office.

Tracking the messages

The messages concerned Sullivan’s conduct, calling him names and referencing matters involving the Frederick police and various members of the department, including Lando.

“Dan explained that this harassment began following the recent arrest (on 06/30/2025) of a Frederick Police Department officer for sex crimes. Dan has been outspoken about his opinions regarding the department’s handling of the investigation on social media platforms,” the report said.

As part of the investigation, the sheriff’s office looked at Lando’s public Facebook page, access logs at Lando’s gym and property records — including his mother’s address.

“All of the local networks used to connect to the Burner account are linked to Jason Lando (his mother’s residence in Pennsylvania, his home address, and his gym),” according to the report.

“One of the messages sent to the victim occurred in the early morning hours while the Burner account was accessed from Jason Lando’s home internet,” the report said.

On July 6, that same Burner account linked to Lando connected with an internet network in Pittsburgh, the report said. Lando had posted on a publicly accessible Facebook account that he was visiting family in Pittsburgh on that date.

Gym records showed Lando used a card to swipe into the Frederick facility at 1:05 p.m. on Aug. 5, the report said. The Burner account associated with Lando connected to the gym’s internet network at 1:49 p.m. that day.

Investigators turned their findings over to the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor, which declined to file charges and closed the case earlier this month.

The prosecutor’s office did not provide details about its decision other than writing in a Dec. 2 letter to Lando’s attorney that it found “no violations of criminal law.”

Under the section of Maryland law cited in the sheriff’s report as the offense under investigation, it is illegal to use a telephone to make “an anonymous call that is reasonably expected to annoy, abuse, torment, harass, or embarrass another.”

On the ground in Pittsburgh

Lando served as police chief in Frederick, Md., for nearly five years. O’Connor last month nominated Lando to helm the Pittsburgh force.

The mayor-elect and his soon-to-be chief of staff, Dan Gilman, continued Saturday to stand behind O’Connor’s pick for chief, referring to a Friday statement that stressed Lando’s previously spotless reputation.

“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,” O’Connor told TribLive.

Lando told TribLive Friday he had planned to fire Sullivan. But the former corporal retired first.

Sullivan disputed that account and called Lando “a liar.”

Lando has maintained he did not harass Sullivan.

“What kind of chief or leader would I be if I said, ‘I’m not going to hold this guy accountable because it might escalate?’” Lando told TribLive Friday. “I did the right thing … and sometimes this happens.”

Charlie Snyder, president of the Frederick police union, said in a statement on Friday the union was aware of the sheriff’s report, which was distributed to its members on Tuesday.

“Conduct of the nature documented in this matter would be unacceptable for any of our members, and especially for someone in a position of leadership,” Snyder told reporters in a statement sent to the Frederick News-Post.

Snyder and other union leaders did not respond to emails or phone calls this week seeking comment.

In recent days, Lando has been meeting in Pittsburgh with “community stakeholders” as he prepares to run the 750-member Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

Lando must win the support of City Council and undergo a public interview before he is sworn in as chief. O’Connor takes office Jan. 5.

City Councilman Anthony Coghill, the Beechview Democrat who heads the governing body’s public safety committee, declined to discuss Lando or the Maryland investigation on Saturday.

Frederick’s mayor, Michael O’Connor, (no relation to Corey O’Connor) launched an internal investigation into the text messages after learning about them Tuesday, mayoral spokesman Allen Etzler said.

Both Michael O’Connor and Etzler called the administrative investigation standard procedure for any employee who had been the target of a criminal probe.

“It’s really just following the policy that we would have in place for any employee in the city of Frederick, police chief or otherwise,” the Frederick mayor said.

Lando had planned to remain a Frederick employee until the end of the month.

On Wednesday, though, he submitted a letter resigning immediately, and the mayor’s investigation was closed, according to Etzler.

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