Andrew Grzywinski says his life was “turned upside down” nearly two years ago after a text was misconstrued as threats.

The Dec. 27, 2022, text to his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children read, “Maplewood mall is my idea and Mayor of St. Paul is end goal” and included an emoji showing a face with a closed zipper for a mouth. The text was sent with a picture of Grzywinski’s Woodbury hotel room, where he was working that day. In the background of the photo, a firearm was faintly visible.

His ex-girlfriend called Woodbury police and said she found it strange, and was concerned about his mental state. She asked them to check on his well-being.

Within hours, Grzywinski was arrested by Woodbury police and then St. Paul police. He was charged the next day by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office with two counts of felony threats of violence. He spent 30 days jailed without the possibility of posting bond until his attorney convinced a judge, through affidavits from his family and friends, that he should be conditionally released.

On Thursday, following a stipulated-facts trial, Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann found the 37-year-old not guilty of both charges, concluding the evidence did not support the claims.

“A threat to commit violence was not stated or communicated in the text nor can such a threat be reasonably inferred from Grzywinski’s actions or words,” Guthmann wrote in his verdict.

Grzywinski said Friday he was oblivious to the situation until Woodbury police knocked on his hotel room door. “I was shocked,” he said, adding he’d never been arrested before then. “I had no clue why.”

Along with a security detail sent to Mayor Melvin Carter’s St. Paul home, police also sent a six-squad security detail to the mall, which closed about an hour and a half early because of the perceived threat.

Before Ramsey County became involved, Woodbury police and the Washington County Attorney’s Office had declined to prosecute Grzywinski, citing a lack of evidence that any crime had been committed.

“Despite this,” Grzywinski’s attorney, Chuck Ramsay, told the Pioneer Press in an email Friday, “the Ramsey County prosecutor pushed forward, relying on a rushed and shoddy investigation, irrelevant information — such as a Mall of America gang shooting — and inadmissible evidence designed to inflame public opinion. Unfortunately, much of the media parroted this narrative, nearly ruining Mr. Grzywinski’s life.”

Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said in a Friday statement, “As in all criminal cases, we only file criminal charges if the prosecutor reasonably believes the charges are supported by probable cause and that credible admissible evidence creates a reasonable probability of conviction at trial.” As far as the acquittal, he said, “We respect the judicial process and the court’s decision in this case.”

Starting a business

Things were going well for Grzywinski before the claims. Two months earlier, he started his own business, Grizz’s HVAC and Appliance Service, after working 19 years for heating, ventilation and air conditioning companies.

“It was a great time in my life,” Grzywinski said. “I had planned for 15 years to start my own business.”

According to the stipulated facts in the case:

Grzywinski had been looking for a location to set up a showroom for his business. Then, on Dec.1, 2022, he saw a news story that Maplewood Mall was going up for auction. He sent a screenshot of the story to his friend and the two began working on their business plan, which included securing financing and recruiting businesses for the mall.

Grzywinski had also discussed with several others his plan for the mall and also wanting to enter politics. On the morning of his arrest, he called a friend he met in the HVAC business about buying the mall. He asked if he would be interested in being an investor and also discussed his plans to run for mayor of St. Paul.

Meanwhile, workers were in Grzywinski’s home in St. Paul’s Greater East Side neighborhood for a remodeling project. So, he packed up his business documents, clothing and other items to work at the Sheraton Hotel in Woodbury. He brought along his gun, for which he had a permit to carry, as he didn’t want to leave it behind while unattended workers were there.

He then sent the text.

Before his ex-girlfriend called Woodbury police, she learned from his current girlfriend that he was interested in purchasing the mall and had also talked about running for mayor of St. Paul. His ex-girlfriend told police he had been acting “strange” for about a month prior to the text and asked them to go to the hotel and talk with him.

An officer conducted a preliminary investigation before Grzywinski was detained for a medical hold. His mother told the officer he had plans to buy the mall and had expressed an interest in running for mayor of St. Paul.

Woodbury police took Grzywinski into custody at the hotel without incident just after 7 p.m. After reviewing the text messages along with his “erratic behavior,” an emergency hold was planned when he was taken into custody. A sergeant consulted with two Washington County prosecutors, who concluded that Grzywinski in his text was referring to his plan to buy the mall and run for mayor.

“The text viewed in context of all the information did not create a reasonable apprehension that Mr. Grzywinski was threatening the mall or the mayor,” the court document states. “There is no evidence that Mr. Grzywinski knew of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his words or actions would cause terror in another.”

Grzywinski was held in a squad car at the Sheraton until St. Paul police transported him to headquarters. He was placed in a small room where he remained handcuffed. Left sitting there without any information as to why he was being detained, he began yelling that he wanted a lawyer.

When told why he was being booked into jail, Grzywinski was “completely surprised,” the court document states.

“I’m gonna (expletive) buy (expletive) Maplewood Mall, bro,” Grzywinski told the officer, according a partial transcript of body-worn video included in court records. “I am not (expletive) playing around. Whatever this (expletive) is, this is (expletive) wasting my (expletive) time. I know where the (expletive) I came from. I didn’t do (expletive) wrong.”

‘Long, drawn-out process’

The criminal complaint mentioned how a Woodbury investigator learned that Grzywinski had been hospitalized for a week one year prior in Pensacola, Fla., on a mental health hold. “The doctor who treated (Grzywinski) told police that (Grzywinski’s) threats should be taken seriously,” the complaint says.

On Friday, Grzywinski said that incident stemmed from another misunderstanding. He said he was in Florida visiting friends and also scouting spots to possibly set up an HVAC business there. Then, his rental car was reported stolen, he said, after his credit card company stopped the payment because they suspected identity theft because he was in another state.

He said he had his gun with him and “kind of panicked and freaked out when the police said it was stolen … and so they kind of got scared. But that got dismissed. They didn’t have anything.”

Ramsay, Grzywinski’s attorney, said he and the prosecution agreed the incident would not be part of the evidence submitted to the judge in the Ramsey County case.

Grzywinski said he’s relieved he’s been cleared of any wrongdoing, adding “it’s just been a really long, drawn-out process.”

In addition to legal fees, the charges have affected his business, he said. He recalled how one customer kicked him out of her house after she read about the charges against him and became scared.

“But I got lucky that I have a really good support system and family and really good friends in the business, because I grew up in the business,” he said. “But my business had a lot of steam, and then it just totally stopped and I really had to start back over.”

Grzywinski said he heard the mall was taken off the market, so that plan is no longer in play. As far as running for mayor of St. Paul, he’s not taking that off the table.

“I’d still like to someday,” he said. “I was born and raised in St. Paul. I really care about my city, I really do.”