A Palm Beach Gardens man is facing charges stemming from allegedly writing online threats against top-ranking members of the West Palm Beach Police Department.
Bryan Slater, 46, publicly posted online threats, specifically about Chief Tony Araujo, a deputy chief, an assistant chief, a major and multiple lieutenants, among other members of the department, Deputy Chief Tony Shearer announced at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Shearer did not provide details about detectives’ investigation that led to the arrest or the nature of the alleged threats but said one was “talking about officers being dead.”
“The content of the post was threatening in nature and caused immediate concern for the safety of department personnel,” the department said in a news release.
Court records were not available.
Slater was taken to be booked into the Palm Beach County jail on Wednesday afternoon on a charge of making written threats to kill or bodily injure, Shearer said, which is a second-degree felony.
Slater is actively on probation stemming from a stalking charge in April, court records show. A woman, who previously obtained a court-issued no contact order against Slater, told the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office that the order had expired and Slater had repeatedly contacted her on social media through “aggressive and explicit messages,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
Some of Slater’s alleged comments had been removed by Facebook because of their nature, including threats of sexual violence against the woman’s daughter and threats to kill the woman’s husband, the affidavit said.
The woman had met Slater while she volunteered for the Florida Sportsman Conservation Association, which has youth hunting and camping trips, according to a 2019 probable cause affidavit in a separate stalking case involving the same woman. Slater showed up to every event the association hosted, and the woman said she saw him with a handgun and possibly a long gun at some of the events in the past where people were allowed to bring their own guns.
Slater’s mother and brother told deputies in 2019 that his mental health had begun declining within the previous two years at the time and that he would make random, delusional comments, the affidavit said.
Slater, who has been known to be homeless, is schizophrenic and was not taking medication at the time of his recent arrest in April, his brother told law enforcement, according to the affidavit. He pleaded guilty to the April stalking charge and was sentenced to one year of probation.