3rd man arrested for allegedly posting online death threat against Florida sheriff

A third person has been arrested for making death threats against a Florida sheriff who took a stance against antisemitism in his community earlier this year.

In late February, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood denounced antisemitic flyers and banners that had been cropping up in the area.

"I will use every legal measure in my power to crush these antisemitic racist cowards," Chitwood said on Feb. 22 of the Goyim Defense League, the group purportedly behind the messages.

In public comments a week later on a new bill aimed to enhance criminal penalties for extremists, Chitwood said, "These scumbags came to the wrong county. We are not going to tolerate this."

"This is not the First Amendment, this is pure, pure, pure evil," he added.

In the weeks since, three out-of-state men have been arrested for allegedly making online death threats against the sheriff in extremist chat rooms on the internet forum 4chan -- among the "multiple threatening or harassing messages" the sheriff has received in response to his recent comments, his office said.

The most recent arrest occurred in Connecticut on Wednesday. Cristhian Zapata, 23, is in custody pending extradition to Volusia County for allegedly posting to 4chan on April 7, "I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS," according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office.

The post was traced to an apartment in Ansonia, Connecticut, where investigators determined Zapata lived with his sister at the time, the sheriff's office said. His sister reportedly told local police that her brother was "often participating in extremist chat rooms and 'talking to unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology,'" the office said in a statement Thursday announcing the arrest.

Zapata allegedly admitted to police to posting the threat after hearing about the recent threats to Chitwood and "said he was surprised that others had been arrested, because he believes in the First Amendment," the Volusia Sheriff's Office said.

Zapata was arrested on a felony warrant for making a written threat to kill, which carries a $100,000 bond, the sheriff's office said. It is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

His arrest follows those of Tyler Meyer in California and Richard Golden in New Jersey on the same charges for allegedly making threats on 4chan to kill Chitwood, the sheriff's office said.

Meyer, 30, was arrested on March 31 by the San Diego Police Department. According to the Volusia Sheriff's Office, the FBI traced an anonymous post on a 4chan board to him that stated: "It's too bad Mike Chitwood isn't safe now that I'm planning to kill him. I'm going to shoot Mike Chitwood. I'm going to kill him by shooting him to death."

Meyer allegedly admitted to writing the post. He has not yet been extradited to Volusia County, the sheriff's office said Friday. It is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Golden, 38, of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, was arrested on March 13 for allegedly making an anonymous online death threat against Chitwood in a 4chan chat on Feb. 22.

"Just shoot Chitwood in the head and he stops being a problem. They have to find a new guy to be the problem," the post stated, according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office. "But shooting Chitwood in the head solves an immediate problem permanently. Just shoot Chitwood in the head and murder him."

Golden entered a written plea of not guilty in a court filing last month, online court records show. He is next scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on May 4.