For more than a year, Chandler Councilmember Jane Poston claimed that top city officials had concocted a story about her being under FBI investigation for her outside business’s connection to the local police union.
Poston even filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging defamation.
But the FBI has now confirmed that agents had been investigating Poston dating back to 2023, according to a letter obtained by ABC15.
In the February 12 letter, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jose Perez wrote to Chandler Police Chief Bryan Chapman, telling him the matter was being closed.
The letter did not specify why the investigation was being shut down.
In an emailed statement, Poston said she was never aware of any investigation and never contacted by the FBI.
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“It’s unclear whether this was a true ‘investigation’ or politically motivated,” she said.
The confirmation of the investigation undercuts Poston’s claims in her lawsuit against city officials.
In a January 2025 court filing, her attorneys alleged that city officials lied about the existence of an FBI investigation to harm Poston.
“Out of sheer hostility towards Plaintiffs Jane Poston and J2 Media LLC (‘J2’), Defendants concocted a story that Poston was under 'FBI Investigation' and that the Chandler Law Enforcement Association (‘CLEA’) attempted to bribe Poston by intentionally overpaying J2 for marketing services,” Poston’s attorneys wrote in response to the city’s motion to dismiss the case. “Not satisfied with just inventing these falsehoods, Defendants strategically leaked them to the media, over a period of several months, in order to increase the stress, anxiety, and other harms that Poston was experiencing in connection with her recent breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy.”
A judge has not yet ruled on whether to dismiss Poston’s lawsuit.
ABC15 broke the story about a possible FBI investigation into Poston in February 2024.
The station obtained an emailthat was sent in November 2023 from then-Police Chief Sean Duggan to City Manager Joshua Wright. Duggan wrote that he had information about the FBI investigating Poston and the Chandler Law Enforcement Association’s former president, Michael Collins.
In the email, Duggan didn’t write what the FBI was specifically investigating.
But sources told ABC15 that it appears the allegation surrounds Poston’s personal media company’s work with the police union.
A couple weeks after ABC15’s report, Poston was adamant during an interview that there was no investigation.
“I adamantly do not believe that investigation is happening,” she said. “There is absolutely no reason to believe that is happening.”
Poston and her husband, Jason, own a company called J2 Media, and she confirmed they did video, website, and public relations work for the Chandler Law Enforcement Association.
During the interview, she declined to tell ABC15 how much money J2 Media has received from the union in recent years.
“No. Talking about the money that a business chooses to spend with my company isn’t an appropriate conversation for me to have about any business,” she said.
Poston said that her paid work ended in December 2022, which is the month before she took office.
The Chandler Law Enforcement Association spent more than $150,000 in recent years on advertising and promotion expenses, according to publicly filed tax forms in 2021 and 2022.
Before 2021, the union spent little or no money on advertising and promotion, tax records show.
In a previous report, ABC15 proved that J2 Media did provide video services and studio space for the union after Poston took office. Poston confirmed that’s true but claimed that was done for free and denied that any of her company’s work created a conflict of interest.
FULL STATEMENT FROM JANE POSTON
“I was never aware of any investigation, and I was never contacted by anyone at the FBI or any law enforcement organization. It’s unclear whether this was a true ‘investigation’ or politically motivated. I raised my business relationship with CLEA with the City Attorney before I took office, and publicly in a City Council meeting. In both instances, the City Attorney advised that there was no conflict of interest. I don’t understand why the City waited this long to reveal there was an investigation. We are still evaluating our options with our attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.”
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
