Investigators close case over alleged online threats against Anoka County Board candidate

An investigation into alleged online threats against a candidate running for the Anoka County Board turned up no criminal violations, and police have closed the case.

The Anoka Police Department this week released its findings after reviewing conversations that appeared in a private Facebook group and included posts accusing Kevin Landry, who is running against incumbent Commissioner Matt Look, of pedophilia.

Some of the posts in the group, called "Matt Look and Friends," also included memes of bullets and implied that those who mistreat children should be dead, the investigator's report said.

"When you are [expletive] with children, you should not have a past, present or future. You should be dead," one of the posts read.

A subsequent post said, "I'm making pedo vaccines right now. One shot and they are dead."

Landry called police July 25 after a member of the Facebook group shared screenshots of the posts with him, saying he "should know what is going on in the conversations, just in case there was any danger or threat to him," the investigative report said.

After viewing the screenshots, Landry told police he feared for his safety and believed volunteers aligned with Look were behind them.

Look said he was out of town when the hubbub broke out and is not associated with the messages.

"I do not support this or what he is going through," Look said in an interview last week.

The online conversations began after someone posted a picture of Landry holding a small child who was unclothed. Landry said the photo was a "proud papa" picture, taken 12 years ago, of his then-4-month-old daughter.

"I found the photo was in no way inappropriate or sexual in any way," the police investigator wrote.

Posts in the chat also included a man who said he planned to invite Landry to a bar, choose a seat in front of a security camera and directly accuse Landry of being a pedophile. "Landry would no longer be running if it works," the man wrote.

At one point in the thread, a comment from Look's Facebook account appeared, thanking supporters for their help and support. But investigators determined Look's comment was unrelated to the discussion about Landry and had been made "days prior regarding a different topic."

The investigator stated that based on the initial screenshots obtained from Landry, he could not determine if there was any threat intended or carried out. The investigator later obtained additional messages in the thread.

"In reviewing the conversations, I did not find any criminal violations," the investigator wrote, noting the entire chat has been saved to the case file.

Police confirmed Wednesday that the investigation has been closed.

Landry has not commented on the outcome of the investigation, but said Wednesday he plans to remain in the race.