A Connecticut man who was arrested last month for making an online threat to kill Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood has been extradited to Florida, joining two other men who were extradited earlier this year for similar crimes.
Cristhian Zapata, 23, landed in Florida on Thursday, May 4, just over two weeks after he was arrested at his mother’s home in Shelton, Connecticut.
Zapata is accused of posting a death threat against Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood through the website 4Chan on April 7. The death threat read as follows:
I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS
After the comment was made, it was flagged by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange for further investigation, which traced the origin of the post to a home in Ansonia, Connecticut where Zapata was staying with his sister, her fiancé, and her child.
During an interview, Zapata’s sister told police that he 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.” Police learned that Zapata had recently relocated to his mother’s home in nearby Shelton, Connecticut, where they made contact with him.
While speaking with Zapata, he admitted to posting the threat to kill Sheriff Chitwood. He 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. He was arrested by Shelton Police Department officers on a felony warrant for making a written threat to kill and was extradited this week.
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 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 have now been extradited to Florida and charged with making a written threat to kill or cause injury. They are accused of posting the comments through 4Chan, which is an online forum that hosts boards dedicated to a variety of topics.