3rd 4Chan user accused of threatening Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Connecticut man was arrested Wednesday after posting threats online about killing Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, according to officials.

Deputies said that on April 7, Cristhian Zapata, 23, made a post on the online message board 4Chan, which reads, “I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS.”

In a news release, detectives said the post was flagged by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange for further investigation.

The post was traced back to the apartment of Zapata’s sister in Connecticut, where he had been living along with her fiancé and 3-year-old child, the release shows.

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Detectives said Zapata’s sister told law enforcement that her brother was always on his computer, often participating in chat rooms and talking to unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology.

Investigators said that Zapata’s sister also told them that Zapata is Hispanic but identifies himself as white or German.

However, Zapata’s sister later said that the “conspiracy theories” involved things like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster, not hate groups. She added that he identifies as white due to their European ancestry.

“My brother is Hispanic and identifies as white due to our European ancestry. He loves learning about other cultures. He acknowledges that he’s Hispanic to anybody that asks,” she said.

According to investigators, she also told them that Zapata was fascinated with Adolf Hitler and may have been suffering from a mental illness.

However, she later told News 6 that law enforcement had taken what she said out of context, adding that her brother “never ever in his life mentioned to me anything about Hitler or liking him.”

“Once again, as I said to the officer, my brother is not part of any hate or white supremacist groups,” she wrote in a message. “He’s not obsessed with Adolf Hitler, has no Nazi views.”

When police contacted Zapata, he admitted to posting the threat, indicating that he’d heard about recent events in Florida.

Zapata explained he was aware of others posting threats online to kill Chitwood, though he was surprised that they were arrested, believing that such speech was protected by the First Amendment.

“My brother had heard about what’s going down in Florida and — believing in the First Amendment — he posted something he regretted instantly,” Zapata’s sister later said. “He’s a great kid with no record.”

In an affidavit, deputies said that Zapata denied being a part of any hate groups or owning any weapons.

Zapata was arrested Wednesday evening by the Shelton Police Department. He faces a charge of making a written threat to kill.

This marks the third arrest of a 4Chan user accused of threatening to kill Chitwood. A New Jersey man and a California man were arrested on similar charges last month.

Following his arrest, Zapata’s sister reached out to News 6, stating that her brother wasn’t racist or part of a hate group. She added that the information provided by law enforcement was taken out of context and that the threat wasn’t made seriously.

“He’s just a kid who made a wrong decision. Law enforcement tricked me to make it seem like my brother is some sort of criminal. I had told the officer as well that (Zapata) didn’t suffer from a mental illness, instead that he was a strange, socially awkward kid,” she said. “In which I repeated multiple times to the officer. Not once they did mention any of this would be used against us. It’s just sad.”

Zapata was extradited to Volusia County on May 4.

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