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Investigation reveals impersonator acting as wife of Police Officer posts racist Facebook comments

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Posted at 6:40 PM, Feb 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-17 20:40:43-05

KAYSVILLE, Utah — An investigation has revealed that racist Facebook comments were made by a fake account in an attempt to impersonate the wife of a Kaysville Police Officer.

The comments were originally made at the end of May on KTVX ABC4’s Facebook page. The comments expressed support of then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was arrested after a video showed him kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes.

Read: Kaysville Police investigate racist Facebook comments

Officer Criddle was immediately placed on administrative leave while the investigation took place.

In a Facebook post, the Kaysville Police Department said the investigation involved, "interviewing numerous people, subpoenaing the records of private companies and extracting data from digital devices."

During the investigation, multiple sources came forward with information about a potential suspect that was believed of creating the fake account under the name of Criddle's wife and posting the comments, the release said.

Evidence found that the suspect was related to other types of similar incidents multiple times to people they had conflicts with over the past few years.

The investigation revealed that neither Officer Criddle nor his wife had any involvement with the racist comments in question or any other racist actions.

Kaysville Police say the investigation is now closed and Criddle will be returned to his position immediately.