Just over a month after being reported to University Police Department by members of La Raza Student Association, 40-year-old Christopher David Cook was booked into the Long Beach City Jail according to the CSULB Newsroom.
“[The suspect was] taken into custody without incident today after complex and methodical investigation that began in September,” said Fernando Solorzano, chief of university police, in a statement. “Cook is expected to face several charges along with a hate crime enhancement.”
La Raza members declined to comment on the investigation.
Cook had previously been on probation from a vandalism charge in 2009, as reported by the L.A. Times.
Members of the student association reported Cook to authorities on Sept. 17, sending over screenshots of the threats as well as giving statements to detectives. But locating the suspect wasn’t so simple, according to Detective Christopher Brown of university police.
“Anyone can be anyone on the internet,” he said. “It takes time.”
Records were requested from Facebook regarding Cook’s profile use and according to Detective Brown, in cases like these, the social media company would be able to provide information such as time logs and IP addresses for the associated account. After that, it would only be a matter of picking up the right person.
“[The suspect] was confronted and admitted to some of the threats,” Brown said.
The Fountain Valley resident was in court last week, and is now behind bars in Long Beach City Jail awaiting trial by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
“The University Police Department stands with the entire Long Beach State community in the goal of inclusive excellence,” Solorzano added in his statement.
This story will be updated.
