Connecticut man arrested for threatening to kill Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood

A Connecticut man, who identified himself as a nationalist and a fan of Adolf Hitler, was arrested for threatening to kill Sheriff Mike Chitwood on an extremist chat group platform, authorities said.

Cristhian Zapata, 23, of Ansonia, Connecticut, was arrested Wednesday evening by the Shelton Police Department on a felony warrant for making a written threat to kill and was jailed on $100,000 bail, said sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant.

He is awaiting extradition to Volusia County, officials said.

Zapata is the third person to be arrested after threatening to kill Chitwood while chatting on the extremist group platform 4CHAN.

Who are the men threatening Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood and where are they now?

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On April 7, Zapata posted “I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS.” His threat was investigated by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, Gant said.

Zapata's internet post was traced to a home in Ansonia, Connecticut, where he lived with his sister, her fiance, and her child, authorities said.

The sister told investigators that Zapata was always on his computer, often participating in extremist chat rooms and “talking to unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology,” Gant said.

His sister also said her brother was fascinated with Adolf Hitler, investigators said.

Shortly after he posted the death threat, Zapata and his sister’s family moved to their mother’s home in nearby Shelton, Connecticut, Gant said.

Zapata admitted to posting the threat to kill 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, investigators said.

In March, Richard Golden, 38, of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, was arrested for suggesting to hate groups in a white supremacists' chatroom that Chitwood be murdered. Golden posted that killing Chitwood, by shooting him in the head, would get him out of the way of hate groups' activities in Volusia County.

Golden was extradited to Volusia County on March 27 and locked up at the Volusia County Branch jail on a charge of written threats to kill or do bodily injury. Court records show he got out on April 11 after posting $100,000 bail.

Then, in late March, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office announced that a San Diego man, Tyler Meyer, 30, was arrested by the San Diego Police Department and charged with making a written threat to kill or injure, a second-degree felony.

Authorities said Meyer posted an anonymous death threat to Chitwood saying "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,” according to police.

Meyer is awaiting extradition to Volusia County.

Chitwood and his family have been the targets of threatening or harassing messages after the sheriff condemned neo-Nazi hate groups and white supremacists in Florida. 

All three men lived with their mothers, and spent a lot of time on the computer following hate group ideologies, authorities said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Connecticut man arrested for threatening to kill Sheriff Chitwood