A man whose family members described him as “fascinated with Adolf Hitler,” is the third individual arrested over the past month for making an online threat to kill the Volusia County Sheriff.
Cristhian Zapata, 23, was arrested on Wednesday, April 19, for posting a death threat against Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood through 4Chan on April 7. The death threat read as follows:
I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS
The comment was flagged by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange for further investigation, which traced the origin of the post to a home in Ansonia, Connecticut.
Detectives determined that the comment was made by Zapata while he was living in his sister’s apartment, where she lived with her fiancé and child.
During an interview, Zapata’s sister told police that Zapata was always on his computer and frequently participated in extremist chat rooms to talk to “unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology.” The sister also indicated that her brother was “fascinated by Adolf Hitler,” according to a police report filed in the state of Connecticut.
Police learned that Zapata and his sister’s family had recently relocated from the apartment in Ansonia to their mother’s home in nearby Shelton, Connecticut.
Detectives made contact with Zapata at his mother’s house and he admitted to posting the threat to kill Sheriff Chitwood. Zapata told police that 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, citing the First Amendment.
Zapata was arrested by Shelton Police Department officers on a felony warrant for making a written threat to kill. The charge carries a $100,000 bond. He is currently incarcerated in Connecticut and is awaiting extradition to Volusia County.
Zapata joins two others who were arrested in March after admitting to making similar statements online.
Tyler Meyer, 30, was arrested on March 31 by the San Diego Police Department at his mother’s home in connection with similar threats made through 4Chan. Meyer made an anonymous post stating that it was “too bad Mike Chitwood isn’t safe now that I’m planning to kill him.” He went on to say that he was going to “kill him by shooting him to death.”
Richard Golden, 38, was arrested arrested after making similar statements through the same website. Authorities say that Golden wrote the following comment:
“Just shoot Chitwood in the head and he stops being a problem. They have to find a new guy to be the problem…But shooting Chitwood in the head solves an immediate problem permanently. Just shoot Chitwood in the head and murder him.”
All three men are accused of posting the comments through 4Chan, which is an imageboard website that hosts boards dedicated to a variety of topics.
Meyer and Golden have both been extradited to Florida.
Additionally, Golden and Meyer have also been charged with making a written threat to kill or cause injury.