SLEEPY EYE — Brown County authorities commented on two recent online videos of a member of a vigilante group interviewing two men it claims were soliciting teenage boys online for sex.

The Midwest Predator Catchers, a private organization describing its mission as helping keep local communities safe from online predators, posted a July 10 video on YouTube that appeared to show a 31-year-old man arriving at Allison Park on the Sleepy Eye Lake bike trail. He was then interviewed by a group member who had posed as a teenager on an app called Grindr, advertised as the world’s largest social networking app for LGBTQ people.

The individual interviewing the suspect in the video accused him of agreeing to meet up with who he thought was a 16-year-old boy on Grindr.

The video and another one with footage of another suspect quickly circulated on social media.

Vigilantism is the act of enforcing the law and investigating and punishing offenses and crimes without legal authority, which may lead to unintended consequences.

Brown County Attorney Chuck Hanson said one of the things that concerned him was something one of the men interviewed said.

“He talked about going home and killing himself,” Hanson said. “I don’t encourage any sort of vigilantism for people without conflict resolution and law enforcement training. I’d discourage anyone from doing this sort of thing without law enforcement. Their motivation may be noble, but their execution is lacking.”

In addition, Hanson said his office has taken lots of calls on the matter and his concerns include risks to public safety.

“It should have started by going right to law enforcement,” he said. “People could show up with weapons and cause havoc in a public place.”

“When we do sting exercises with law enforcement, it’s done under a very controlled environment with lots of law enforcement,” said Hanson.

“There is backup on top of backup.”

Sleepy Eye Police Chief Matt Andres said a member of the Midwest Predator Catchers contacted him after the first video of the alleged incident was posted online.

“We have an open investigation on both videos,” Andres said. “We’re waiting for more information from them. Everything we have will go to prosecutors for review.”

An individual on Facebook posting on the Midwest Predator Catchers site said he got involved with the organization a week ago and described himself as “just a father protecting the innocence of the children in my community and spreading awareness of the monsters in it.”

The New Ulm Journal has made repeated attempts to contact the Midwest Predator Catchers member online and by phone, but messages have not been returned.

One of the men accused of soliciting a 16-year-old boy for sex online was identified as an assistant hockey coach for the Cloquet-based Minnesota Wilderness junior hockey team.

According to a release by the team, Brendan Phelps’ employment was terminated and he was suspended from all participation in any USA Hockey sanctioned activity.

In addition, the incident is being handled by local authorities and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, according to a statement from Dave Boitz, general manager for the Minnesota Wilderness.

In addition, the statement read the team encourages any player, player’s family member, or billet family member who has concerns about the coach’s behavior to contact team representatives, so they can be put in contact with SafeSport and/or local authorities.