VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — An Ansonia man has been arrested and is awaiting extradition for posting death threats to a Florida sheriff on Wednesday.
Cristhian Zapata, 23, posted to the online forum 4Chan on April 7 a message threatening to kill Sheriff Michael Chitwood of Volusia County.
The message read, "I will kill Chitwood, mark my words."
The post was flagged by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange for further investigation.
Zapata's 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.
The investigation traced the origin of the most recent post to an Ansonia home where police 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. The sister also indicated her brother was fascinated with Adolf Hitler.
Police learned Zapata and his sister’s family recently moved from the Ansonia apartment to Zapata’s mother’s home in nearby Shelton.
When police contacted Zapata, he admitted to posting the threat to kill Sheriff Chitwood. He said 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.
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.
---
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
----
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.
