Former Wilderness coach won't face charges

Former Minnesota Wilderness junior hockey coach Brendan Phelps won’t face charges after two men in an online video alleged that Phelps had traveled to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, for an intimate encounter with someone he believed was a 16-year-old male.

Instead, when Phelps arrived, he found the men — private citizens, not police — with video cameras, one who claimed he had posed as the boy online. The 18-minute video was posted to YouTube in July by a group called Midwest Predator Catchers.

While Phelps lost his job as an assistant coach with the Wilderness, Brown County attorney Chuck Hanson said he didn’t break state law.

“The age of consent in Minnesota is 16 and the people doing this private sting posed as a 16-year-old,” Hanson said. “It’s creepy, but it’s not illegal.”

Hanson said he isn’t a fan of what he referred to as vigilantism, or people taking the law into their own hands.

“They don’t know what they’re doing; they don’t know the law,” Hanson said. “And it’s dangerous.”

Confronting a stranger with such strong allegations could lead to violence, he pointed out, noting that the encounter happened in a public place.

“I get really concerned about public safety,” he added.

An official statement from the Wilderness after the video was released confirmed Phelps’ dismissal and stated that he had been “suspended from all participation in any USA Hockey sanctioned activity, including all activity within the jurisdiction of the (North American Hockey League).”

Sleepy Eye is a city of 3,378 people northwest of Mankato, about 240 miles from Cloquet.