Man found at mother's house, arrested for threatening to murder Volusia County Sheriff
By: A man was arrested at his mother's home in New Jersey after he made online threats to murder the Volusia County Sheriff, Mike Chitwood.
The sheriff's office said the man's comments were made following Sheriff Chitwood's recent stand against a neo-Nazi hate group and antisemitism.
Investigators said 38-year-old Richard Golden made anonymous posts on a 4chan threatening to kill Sheriff Chitwood. Stating, "Just shoot Chitwood in the head and he stops being a problem. They have to find a new guy to be the problem.” Golden continued to post, "But shooting Chitwood in the head solves an immediate problem permanently. Just shoot Chitwood in the head and murder him.”
Golden's posts were flagged by Central Florida Intelligence Exchange (CFIX), launching a joint investigation into identifying the anonymous user. Golden was later located and found to be living at his mother's house in Monmouth Junction, NJ.
The FBI and local law enforcement agencies in New Jersey were contacted, and body cam video shows officers arresting Golden on Monday afternoon.
Golden's mother told investigators that her son stays in his room and is always on the internet. She continued to say he doesn't have a job, rarely leaves the house, and is hostile toward law enforcement and the government.
“The anonymous nature of the internet may make people feel they can say anything, but if you make threats or put people in fear, we will use all our resources to track you down,” South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said in his own announcement of the arrest. “Yesterday showed that being 974 miles away from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office was no distance too great for the teamwork of law enforcement.”
In a news conference on Tuesday, March 14, Sheriff Chitwood thanked the arresting law enforcement agencies and shared some words to Golden personally.
“I cannot wait to meet him when he gets off the plane,” the sheriff said, “because one of the first faces he’s going to see welcoming him to the Volusia County Jail, the happiest place on earth, is going to be me.”
The sheriff's office charged Golden with making a written threat to kill or cause injury. He was taken to Middlesex County Corrections Center to be held, pending extradition to Volusia County.