New Jersey man who threatened Volusia Sheriff Chitwood gets year in prison

Richard Golden was arrested in March

Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood confronts suspect Richard Golden at Orlando-Sanford International Airport. (Copyright WKMG 2023)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A New Jersey man who was arrested earlier this year on charges of threatening to kill Volusia County’s sheriff will spend the next year in a Florida prison.

Richard Golden was sentenced to 366 days in prison by a judge Friday, and will also have to pay restitution for extradition costs. He could have faced up to 15 years in prison.

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Golden is the first of several men around the U.S. and Canada who have been arrested for threatening Sheriff Mike Chitwood in the wake of his strong stance against antisemitism and hate groups.

The most recent suspect was arrested in Alaska in an unrelated case. Joshua Wahl is also accused of murdering two people in August.

Golden was arrested in March in New Jersey. Investigators say he made an online threat in a 4Chan forum by telling people to put a bullet in Chitwood’s head.

Chitwood welcomed Golden to Florida when he got off the plane at Orlando-Sanford International Airport a few days after his arrest to be extradited to Volusia County.

Golden pleaded no contest to the charge of written threat to kill or injure last month, hours before his case was supposed to go to trial. The charge is a second-degree felony.

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