Another Internet user who posted an online death threat against Sheriff Mike Chitwood has been arrested, this time in Connecticut, where he’s in custody pending extradition to Volusia County.
Cristhian Zapata, 23, posted to 4Chan on April 7: “I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS,” a post that was flagged by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange for further investigation.
The investigation traced the origin of the post to a home in Ansonia, Conn., where it was determined Zapata had been living in his sister’s apartment, along with her fiancé and child, at the time of the post. Zapata’s sister told Ansonia police detectives her brother was always on his computer, often participating in extremist chat rooms and “talking to unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology,” according to the police report.
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The sister also indicated her brother was fascinated with Adolf Hitler.
It was learned Zapata and his sister’s family recently moved from the Ansonia apartment to Zapata’s mother’s home in nearby Shelton, Conn.
When police contacted Zapata, he admitted to posting the threat to kill Sheriff Chitwood. He indicated he’d heard about recent events in Florida, including other online threats to kill the sheriff, and said he was surprised that others had been arrested, because he believes in the First Amendment.
He identified himself as a nationalist.
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Zapata was arrested Wednesday evening by the Shelton Police Department on a felony warrant for making a written threat to kill, which carries a $100,000 bond.
His arrest follows those of Richard Golden in South Brunswick, N.J., and Tyler Meyer in San Diego, Calif., on the same charges, both of whom were similarly described as young men who had limited social activity and spent the majority of their time participating in extremist, neo-Nazi and/or white supremacist forums on the Internet.
“Their threats are just a few of the many that have been posted following Sheriff Chitwood’s response to extremist activity, hate propaganda campaigns, and harassment of Jewish people and others in Volusia County and Central Florida,” said VCSO.
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