An Apopka man was arrested early Wednesday morning for allegedly threatening in social media messages to murder Mayor Bryan Nelson.  

Hector Raul Cartagena, 64, was charged with four counts: two counts of written/electronic threats to kill or bodily harm another, one count of aggravated stalking with a credible threat, and one count of intimidation-threaten of an elected official.  

There is no relation between the suspect and Apopka firefighter Hector Cartagena, who had been falsely identified by a local social media user as the suspect.  

According to police reports, the threat was reported to authorities Monday night while the mayor was participating in a mayoral debate.  

That night, Apopka Police Chief Lovetta Quinn-Henry tried to contact Nelson by phone before officers were dispatched to the mayor’s home around 9 p.m.  

“An officer knocks on my door at nine o’clock,” Nelson said in an interview. “He said, ‘Mayor, we got a problem here, and so there’s been a death threat against you, and need to see if you’ll sign [a complaint affidavit].” 

The suspect, Cartagena, allegedly made a series of threatening statements in private messages to an acquaintance, who provided them to investigators.  

“I already promised the child rapist Byron [sic] Nelson that he will feel the warmth of my steel blade as I aerate his Esophagus [sic],” Cartegena wrote, according to the arrest affidavit.    

Nelson said police were careful when confronting Cartagena at his home due to the possibility of a volatile confrontation.  

Cartagena was taken into custody shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday, ending what Nelson described as roughly 24 to 30 hours of active monitoring and search efforts. According to the affidavit, Cartegena was wearing a black knife around his neck when he was arrested.  

Nelson also disclosed to The Apopka Chief that this was not the first time he had faced a death threat while in office. About two years ago, a former city employee was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill him.  

Cartagena is currently in the Orange County Jail without bond.  He is scheduled to appear in Orange County Circuit Court at an undetermined time, according to county records. 

Nelson said he does not know Cartagena and pointed to what he called “online hate groups” as the source of the motivation behind the suspect’s anger.  

“There’s enough in [there] about me and my family that I can tell you it came from one of the social media hate groups within Apopka,” Nelson said.  

Nelson said some sites will mix fact-based posts with rumors and false information, giving the pages a veneer of legitimacy and driving up views.  

“We are part of the problem,” he said. “If you go on there and you click on their site, and they get a click, that’s what they’re looking for. They want as many people [as possible]. And the more outlandish the claim, it seems like, the more views and clicks they get.” 

According to police reports, Cartegena’s threats started last week, when he threatened to kill a man he has known since childhood, along with the man’s wife.  

Last Saturday, Cartegena also made threats directed at Apopka Assembly of God church, where he and his childhood acquaintance used to attend. Due to these threats, the church hired an off-duty APD officer for security during its service. 

—With reporting by J.C. Derrick.