A 23-year-old man from Melbourne has been arrested for allegedly making threats to attack attendees at an upcoming Furry convention.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Anthony Stewart on Thursday, January 26 in connection with an alleged threat he made through the social networking platform Tumblr against Megaplex, an upcoming convention for furry enthusiasts in Orlando.
Furries are suits worn by enthusiasts of anthropomorphic or cartoon animals.
According to an arrest affidavit filed in Orange County, representatives of the Florida United Furry Fandom, which host Megaplex, contacted law enforcement authorities after they were notified of threats made to the event and staff on January 8.
The organization provided police with a screenshot of a since-deleted Tumblr post from an individual who claimed to be seeking “revenge” for a lack of perceived punishment against Stewart. The post appeared to have been written by username “sparklesdoggo.”
Detectives spoke with the user associated with the account, who told them that she was not the author of the post. The woman told authorities that she believed the post was authored by a different user account associated with Stewart.
According to the woman, there had been an ongoing online dispute involving her, Stewart, and several other subjects. The woman indicated that Stewart had made similar posts in the past.
On January 17, detectives drove to Melbourne and located Stewart. During an interview, Stewart stated that he has had na ongoing cyberstalking and harassment issue with the woman for the past 10 months.
Although he admitted to authoring the post, Stewart claimed there was “no active threat” and that the shooting would not happen. He also admitted to trying to make the post appear as if it was written by the woman.
Stewart is being charged with written intimidation through electronic means. He is currently being held at the Orange County Jail on $50,000 bond.