CONCORD, NH — A Granite Stater who gained infamy during the Charlottesville riots in 2017 and later, cried when he was about to be arrested by police on assault charges, was arrested in Keene Thursday after being indicted in U.S. District Court on threat charges. A two-count indictment that was previously sealed was released by the court in Concord charging Christopher Cantwell of two felony counts of extortionate interstate communications. Cantwell was arrested by the FBI, according to a post on Twitter.

In June 2019, Cantwell attempted to extort "a thing of value," specifically, the personal identifying information of a person using online pseudonym, and did so in a threatening way, the indictment alleged. "(Cantwell)," the indictment stated, "sent an instant message through the Telegram Messenger app to Victim 1 stating, 'So if you don't want me to come and f--- your wife in front of your kids, then you should make yourself scarce[.] Give me Vic, it's your only out.'"

A warrant was issued for Cantwell's arrest Wednesday; the indictment was unsealed after his arrest. Cantwell, a Long Island, New York native and previous Congressional candidate, was featured in a documentary VICE documentary, "Charlottesville: Race And Terror." He was later ridiculed online after filming himself crying before being arrested — in a video that was uploaded to YouTube.com.

In April 2018, he was also arrested on two illegal and malicious use of gas charges in Albermarle County in Virginia, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror. Months later, Cantwell pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and battery for pepper-spraying people during a protest.

When he was living in New York, he was convicted on criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property, and two driving while intoxicated charges, according to online reports.

Cantwell moved to Keene in 2012 and had been part of the "Free Keene" movement in that city before members of the organization disavowed him for his "despicable racist views," calling him "just an angry libertarian comedian who had a major hatred for the police."



Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the U.S. District Court and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.