VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Connecticut man was arrested Wednesday after posting threats online about killing Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, according to the sheriff’s office.
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 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.
Detectives said Zapata’s sister told law enforcement her brother was always on his computer, often participating in “extremist” chat rooms and “talking to unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology.”
According to the sister, Zapata is Hispanic but identifies himself as white or German to involve himself in white supremacist chat rooms, court records show.
She added that Zapata was fascinated with Adolf Hitler and may have been suffering from a mental illness, deputies said.
When police contacted Zapata, he admitted to posting the threat, indicating that he’d heard about recent events in Florida.
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