Editor’s note: This story contains extreme profanity, graphic references to violence, and a recording than some may find highly disturbing.
It’s been more than two weeks since a North State man received a profanity-laced graphic death threat. The message arrived in the evening via a recorded phone message. Although the caller didn’t identify himself by name, the victim immediately recognized the voice, as would thousands of people, not just here in the North State, but around the world as someone whose dramatic video rant went viral.
But even if the man hadn’t known the source of the death threat, the man’s efficient caller I.D. provided a corresponding phone number, and spelled out the caller’s identity in black and white:
Emilano Zapata.
Here in the North State, he’s better known as Carlos Zapata.
Red, White & Blueprint founder and Palo Cedro resident Carlos Zapata.
Zapata’s searing 22-second death threat contained seven variations of the f— word, a vow that the victim was a dead man, and a promise that not a single police officer in the world could do a thing about what Carlos would do to the man.
No doubt Zapata wouldn’t have made that death threat had he recalled his recent conviction, or had he known the range of potential punishments, from jail time to as long as four years in prison, to thousands of dollars in fines.
But he did make that call:
“Hey you fat motherfucker. You want to talk about my wife? Wife number one and wife number two? Consider yourself a dead motherfucker. Wait ’til I find you. I’m coming to Lake California, motherfucker. And not a cop in the world’s gonna stop me from what I’m gonna do to you, fuckin’ bitch. You wanna talk about my fuckin’ wives? Enough’s enough you fat piece of shit. I’ve had it with you. Wait until I’m fuckin’ lookin’ at you face to face. Say it to my face you fat fuck.”
Here’s the audio version.
Terrorist threats
On the evening of Oct. 11, the recipient of the death threat and his wife were busy around the house, so when a call came in, they let it roll over to voice mail to check later. When they did bring up the recording, the victim and his wife heard the message simultaneously.
“My wife was shocked and terrified,” he said. “She has read about Carlos Zapata, and has seen the news and YouTube clips about him and the Cottonwood Militia during the last few years.”
After he received the death threat, the victim had a choice: Should he or shouldn’t he press charges?
The following day a tamer Zapata left another recording, but this time, it was an apology.
The victim proceeded to press charges against Zapata despite the apology. For the victim, it was a matter of not being terrorized by a bully, and letting the public know what had happened to them.
“We have lost sleep since the threats,” he said. “I don’t feel especially up to dealing with a deranged ex-Marine with a black belt and a truckload of rabid militia followers. I also found Zapata’s ‘apology’ insincere and contrived.”
The victim’s complaint about Zapata was briefly at the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, but Zapata was mistaken when he believed the victim lived in Lake California. So much for intel.
Sheriff Michael Johnson passed the case on to RPD, since the victim actually lives somewhere within Redding’s 60+ -square mile boundary.
From there, the complaint landed on Redding Police Chief Bill Schueller’s desk, who had his patrol staff take a formal report from the victim. That report was forwarded for follow-up to RPD’s Detective Division, which concluded its investigation Tuesday.
RPD Chief Schueller explained where the complaint went from there, with a surprising revelation.
“The case was forwarded to the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office requesting a single charge of 422 PC — Terrorist Threats — on the suspect, Carlos Zapata,” Schueller said in an email.
Penal Code 422: Potential jail/prison time
Here’s how California.Public.Law explains PC 422: “Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out.”
Zapata’s graphic threats tick the main criteria boxes. Zapata made a deliberate, unambiguous threat to commit a violent crime. It was delivered verbally through a recorded phone call. The threat indeed caused the victim to fear for the life of himself, his wife and their adult children. In fact, although Zapata’s death threat happened more than two weeks ago, the victim and his wife are still terrified.
According to one Redding attorney, Penal Code 422 is referred to in legal nomenclature as a “wobbler” — meaning that prosecutors have the option to file it either as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending upon various circumstances and the person’s history.
For example, a person accused of making criminal threats who has a clean record; who lacks a history of making threats, might have their crime prosecuted as a misdemeanor, which could result in some jail time and up to a $1,000 fine.
However, for someone accused of making criminal threats who has a previous criminal record (as Zapata does), and/or has a history of making threats (as Zapata does), the consequences could be more damning for the suspect, such as a felony conviction, years of prison time and up to $10,000 in fines.
Consequently, unfortunately for Zapata, his personal circumstances do not work in his favor, starting with his reputation as a bully who targets those who disagree with him. In this case, history will not be on Zapata’s side.
A history of threats
Zapata, who’s been a polarizing North State figure for more than two years, is renowned for his personal verbal attacks via phone calls, and written attacks on social media against everyone from journalists and county supervisors, to a comedian and the district attorney.
Recently, an outraged Zapata made a number of threatening, demeaning, profane calls to people’s homes, and in one case, to a person’s adult son’s workplace following a Facebook thread that was uncomplimentary to Zapata.
The victim believes that it was one of those Facebook threads that set Zapata off enough to make a terrorist threat against him.
Zapata later addressed the topic on his Red, White and Blueprint podcast where he appeared amped up and agitated. He talked over his co-hosts as he zeroed in on some specific people from a Facebook group who believed that a proposed 4-H club fundraiser at Zapata’s rodeo grounds was a terrible idea, considering Zapata’s sketchy reputation. In retaliation, during his podcast he projected huge photos of the individuals and their Facebook profile pages onto the screen, and then proceeded to mock them. He called one woman a “fat-ass”. He disclosed details he’d found on Facebook about those people. Some of those individuals reported the threats to local law enforcement.
Sometimes Zapata couches his threats as jokes.
Other Zapata threats are more overt.
Yet other times Zapata makes threats and then claims they are not threats (but they are). Case in point is this recent message to A News Cafe reporter Shawn Schwaller that contained such obviously threatening words as, “I’ve been way too nice to you people constantly fucking with us. I hope to see you around,” and “You can call this a threat, it’s not. It’s a warning that I’m not going to sit idly and watch you destroy lives.”
Zapata’s unfortunate timing
One fact tips Lady Liberty’s scales closer to Zapata being prosecuted for a felony charge rather than a misdemeanor: This week marks the one-year anniversary of the trial that found Zapata guilty of disturbing the peace by fighting.
Zapata and co-defendants Christopher Meagher and Elizabeth Bailey were sentenced to 12 months probation. They were ordered to stay away from victim/comedian/sous chef Nathan Pinkney, his home and workplace. Included in the sentencing was an order to obey all laws. Finally, Zapata and friends were sentenced to 16-week anger management classes.
Carlos Zapata on the day he was sentenced for disturbing the peace by fighting.
Judging by Zapata’s death threat, he didn’t learn a thing.
Zapata violated his probation with the worst possible timing when he left his recorded voice-mail death threat. Why? Because he was on probation when he made that call (maybe he still is).
The victim shared with an RPD officer why he’s taking Zapata’s threats so seriously.
“Carlos and the Cottonwood Militia have had a pattern of veiled and direct threats to Shasta County residents during the last few years, and we are taking this very seriously,” he said.
“The militia have referred to themselves publicly as a ‘gang’ that keeps “intelligence” on perceived enemies. Personally, I see no difference between their threats, and threats from other “gangs” like the Crips, Bloods, Tongs, or the Mafia. They have a membership, wear distinctive clothing, and have a hierarchy.”
Red, White and Blueprint advertisement featuring Jon Knight (black shirt with yellow logo) and Cottonwood Militia leader Woody Clendenen (grey shirt with red logo).
The victim continued: “The pattern of threats is plastered all over the internet. A simple Google search of ‘Carlos Zapata threats’ and this pops up:
The California County Where MAGA Took Control
And this:
And this:
For more than two years Carlos Zapata has swaggered around the North State in person and online, threatening those who dared cross him or disagree with him. He’s been the seemingly Teflon dress-up cowboy who can say what he wants and do what he wants without reproach.
Perhaps Zapata has been emboldened by situations such as when a victim’s lawyer tried to serve him with a temporary restraining order, yet not a single deputy would agree to do so.
He’s warned the public that he will “make snitches uncomfortable”.
He bragged that he had “intel” on people who reported businesses that violated the previous state-mandated regulations, or who spoke out against them. He said he knew our names, our dogs’ names and where we lived.
He slammed his hand on a restaurant table where a woman ate dinner with her husband. Her crime? A Facebook comment that Zapata didn’t like.
He accompanied a roughneck couple to the back of a restaurant where the man and woman assaulted a comedian/sous chef, not long after Zapata had backhanded a glass of water upon the man. His crime? He’d satirized Zapata online.
He verbally eviscerated this reporter in public as I filmed his tirade inside closed board chambers breached by his pal Supervisor Patrick Jones. To this day, I am so rattled by that video that I can’t bring my self to watch it.
He went to an aging trailer park with some fellow militia buddies where they terrorized a mentally ill man inside his battered RV by literally shaking his trailer. His crime? Being an obnoxious pest of a caller on local conservative radio programs.
So many examples. And there seemed no end in sight. Until now, with Zapata’s recorded death threat. Finally, this time Zapata may have gone too far. Finally, perhaps Zapata will face consequences after all.
There was a time when Zapata boasted that he always got the last laugh. He even made a video of himself saying that very thing.
Who’s laughing now?
