- April 25, 2024
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A 38-year-old New Jersey man is being extradited to Volusia County after he was charged and arrested on March 6 for threatening to kill Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood on an online forum.
On Feb. 23, days after groups held antisemitic signs along Volusia County roadways and distributed antisemitic flyers, the Volusia Sheriff's Office was notified by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange that a Richard Golden of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, had made death threats against Chitwood in a chat thread on the internet forum 4chan. In the thread, Golden and other individuals had been discussing the actions of the hate group called the "Goyim Defense League."
"Just shoot Chitwood in the head and he stops being a problem," Golden wrote, according to his arrest report. "They have to find a new guy to be the new problem. But shooting Chitwood in the head solves an immediate problem permanently. Just shoot Chitwood in the head and murder him."
For the past several weeks, particularly after he held a press conference denouncing antisemitism, Chitwood has been the target of online harassment by individuals connected with GDL.
In response, Chitwood released anti-Nazi T-shirts and "Volusia Strong" mugs for purchase. The proceeds go to the Volusia Sheriff’s Youth Foundation.
"This just goes to the bigger picture," Chitwood said during a press conference Tuesday, March 14. "When you look at how synagogues get shot up, or churches get shot up or schools get shot up — extremism is extremism."
Once VSO was notified of the threats, the case was picked up by the State Attorney's Office, which obtained an IP address associated with the threats.
When South Brunswick Police detectives first spoke with Golden on March 1, Chitwood said, they discovered that he was "anti-government, anti-law enforcement and, like every other active shooter that we come across, is a marginalized member of society who spends hours and hours and hours in these extremist chatrooms."
Golden told police that he made the threat in the chat after discussion about "Chitwood being a crossdresser and visiting small kids." The allegations of crossdressing came from photos of Chitwood participating in local breast cancer fundraisers.
Golden said he had no ties with any hate groups and didn't plan to act on his statements.
He was charged with a felony for the threat, and, once in jail, his bond will be set at $100,000.
There are also other outstanding subpoenas, Chitwood said, but VSO is awaiting information.
At the March 14 press conference, Chitwood also said that in the days following his press conference with local faith leaders on Feb. 27, three high school students defaced their school's bathroom walls with swastikas. He did not disclose at which high school this took place.
That incident led to the creation of the T-shirts and coffee mugs to raise money for the Volusia Sheriff’s Youth Foundation, he said.
"The best way to defeat or at least contain extremism is through unity and sunshine," Chitwood said. "And the best way to make sure that you don't have it is education. Education eradicates hate."
VSO will request that the judge handling the teenagers' case order them to visit the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg as part of their sentences.
So far, VSO has raised $5,000 by selling the T-shirts and coffee mugs.
