The Renton Police Department will continue its investigation internally of who created eight animated cartoons critical of the department but not as criminal cyberstalking.

The City of Renton also announced Thursday that it has withdrawn a search warrant to seek information from a division of Google Inc. about the identity of Mrfuddlesticks, the user name of the person who posted the videos in April.

“There has been no relevant information that we have uncovered to date on the cyberstalking case to further a criminal investigation,” Jay Covington, the city’s chief administrative officer, said in a prepared statement, using the search warrant.

But city attorney Larry Warren, sitting next to Covington in a City Hall conference room, reaffirmed his belief that a crime did occur – cyberstalking; investigators just weren’t able to gather the evidence to prove it.

Covington also reaffirmed the city’s belief that a current police officer created and posted the videos. Cyberstalking is a gross misdemeanor. Asked whether an outside police agency should have been called in to investigate possible criminal activity by a Renton officer, Warren said a “third party” normally isn’t brought in for gross misdemeanor investigations.

Next week, Police Chief Kevin Milosevich is expected to release an internal investigation involving Police Department employees involved in the posting of a similar animated parody in January.

Now, Covington said, the case is about harassment and discrimination; an internal investigation will continue by the Police Department and by the city’s Human Resources Department.

It’s the city’s duty, Covington said, “to protect those who might have been harassed. It is our responsibility to prevent a hostile work environment and we will continue to conduct an internal investigation.”

Covington made the city’s point that the content of the cartoons was untrue or misleading.

“We’d also like to emphasize that most of the allegations and stories depicted in the videos are fabricated, not true, officers were exonerated, or the videos depict rumors that date back over 20 years,” he said. “Where merited, appropriate action was taken.”

The investigation has drawn national attention, especially from constitutional scholars who maintain the cartoons are protected free speech. His legal analysis and trial experience supported a different interpretation, Warren said, one that led to pursuing the search warrant last month in the first place.

“Let me also assure you that this does not have anything to do with violating First Amendment rights,” Covington said. “We are committed to protecting free speech and the rights of any individual to express their opinions.”