Update: April 26, 6:27 p.m.
An Albemarle Circuit Court judge changed bond conditions for Chris Cantwell Thursday, ruling that he will be held behind bars until he gets an alcohol monitoring bracelet, according to a report by NBC 29 in Charlottesville.
The judge reportedly said she believes Cantwell could pose a public danger when drinking.
When he was arrested in Leesburg for public intoxication, Cantwell was already out on $25,000 bond after he was arrested and charged with illegal and malicious use of gas in Albemarle County during a torch-lit white nationalist rally at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11, 2017.
The judge also ruled Thursday that Cantwell cannot name or reference Emily Gorcenski and Kristopher Goad, counter protesters and alleged victims in the UVA incident, online or in his radio shows. Cantwell filed a lawsuit in December claiming that they were trying to frame him, saying that Gorcenski and Goad used pepper spray on themselves to "maliciously punish, discredit, vex and harass him."
Original Story: April 25, 10:35 p.m.
Christopher Charles Cantwell, a self-described white nationalist and alt-right activist from New Hampshire, was arrested on March 31 in Leesburg for public swearing and intoxication, according to the Leesburg Police Department.
Leesburg Police Officers observed Cantwell trying to cross the street in the 500 block of Market Street. When they made contact with him, “he did show signs of drunkenness. He smelled of alcohol, couldn’t keep his balance,” Sam Shenouda of Leesburg Police told the Times-Mirror.
“At that point, we’re responsible for the person’s safety so he was taken into custody and held until sober,” said Shenouba.
Cantwell was later released on his own recognizance. Shenouda told the Times-Mirror there was no further investigation as to what he was doing in Leesburg. He also said that Cantwell was not investigated in relation to KKK literature that has been distributed throughout Loudoun County over the past year.
Additionally, Cantwell's arrest was not initially listed in the LDP's weekly arrest reports. Shenouda said Wednesday Cantwell was not included in the reports due to a data entry error.
NBC 29 in Charlottesville first reported the Leesburg arrest in a story about Cantwell's legal troubles in Albemarle County. Cantwell is currently out on $25,000 bond after he was arrested for illegal use of tear gas in Albemarle County during a torch-lit white nationalist rally at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11, 2017. Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci told NBC 29 that the Loudoun County charge could affect Cantwell's bond status.
After Albemarle officials announced they had warrants out for Cantwell's arrest following the Charlottesville riots last August, Cantwell posted a video to YouTube, where he choked back tears and shared a phone number that he said the authorities could use to contact him. The video went viral, earning him the nickname "Crying Nazi." Shortly after posting the video he turned himself in to authorities.
When he was released from jail in December, Cantwell was ordered to remain in the state of Virginia, have home electronic monitoring, and he was forbidden to have firearms as part of his bond deal. In January he appeared in court to ask for a new prosecutor, a change of trial venue and more freedom. According to a NBC 29 report, the judge denied the motions to remove Tracci from the case and to move the trial from the Charlottesville area, but approved the motion to allow Cantwell to move within city limits with his ankle monitor.
Cantwell gained significant public attention after he was featured in a Peabody Award-winning Vice News report on the Unite the Right rally. In it, he tells Vice correspondent Elle Reeve that he “got into the racial stuff” and “the radical agenda” after Trayvon Martin was killed.
“Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and all these things happen, every single case it’s some little black [expletive] behaving like a savage,” he said. “Whatever problems I might have with my fellow white people, they generally are not inclined to such behavior and you gotta take that into consideration when you’re thinking about how to organize your society.”
Three people died in connection to the Charlottesville protests. Two state troopers, Trooper-Pilot Berke M. M. Bates and Pilot Lt. H. Jay Cullen, died when their helicopter crashed while they monitoring the protests from the air.
Heather Heyer, a counter protester, was killed after James Fields, a white nationalist from Ohio, drove his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of protesters.
Cantwell's bond is scheduled to be taken up in Albemarle Circuit Court on Thursday. His adjudicatory hearing with the Loudoun General District Court is scheduled for June 26.
(15) comments
Not that I'm a supporter of the KKK, but I think we have bigger concerns here in Loudoun County, it's ridiculous that this on the front page. A drunk and disorderly is less harmful than the MS-13, or the Islamic terrorists we have in the county. See them on the front page, ...... nope. LTM likes to make a mountain out of a molehill when it fits their agenda.
Loudoun 4 Trump, but anyone that says this....."Just because Trump said: Laziness is a trait in blacks, Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, immigrants from Haiti all have AIDS, if Nigerian immigrants see the USA they will never go back to their huts and that the white supremacists in Charlottesville were very fine people……. Or that he all but refused to denounce KKK leader David Duke’s endorsement or because he pardoned Arizona sheriff Arpaio who was convicted of arresting Mexicans just for being Mexican or because he ban muslims from coming to this country and called for less immigration from Haiti and Africa but more from Norway" IS A RACIST! Your racist about Liberals. Bruce Bartlett says it best!
Bruce Bartlett, an economic historian, was a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush. I agree with him 100%! The Republican Party today is basically a coalition of grievances united by one thing: hatred. Hatred of immigrants, hatred of minorities, hatred of intellectuals, hatred of gays, feminists and many other groups too numerous to mention. What binds them together is hatred of Democrats because they are welcoming to every group that Republicans reject.
The comment from Loudoun 4 Trump (with spaces in between) was quite clearly tongue-in-cheek. Did that really go over your head?
I don't think Kanye would support a racist....keep trying to destroy Trump with lies and crazy conspiracy theories...I think North and South Korea just ended their war -- way to go Trump!!! Not only is he making America great again, Trump is making the world great again...keep on trying liberals, I remember Jesse Jackson handing an award to trump on behalf of the African American community for all the work he did in the inner cities in NYC....now is is the racist boogeyman....c'mon people are laughing at the liberals lashing out with incoherent logic and ideas...where is russion collusion these days? Obstruction? Secheyllis? Stormy? etc. etc.
Hearing that this man was found in Loudon County is very disconcerting. Could there be some neo-Nazi group in our county that we are not aware of? Leesburg has made it known that we do not want hate groups in our neighborhoods. How can we rid ourselves of Chris Cantwell and his buddies who wish to start trouble?
We can't stop him from coming into town but we can make him feel unwanted.
You will turn anything around to serve your leftist agenda. Just because Trump said: Laziness is a trait in blacks, Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, immigrants from Haiti all have AIDS, if Nigerian immigrants see the USA they will never go back to their huts and that the white supremacists in Charlottesville were very fine people……. Or that he all but refused to denounce KKK leader David Duke’s endorsement or because he pardoned Arizona sheriff Arpaio who was convicted of arresting Mexicans just for being Mexican or because he ban muslims from coming to this country and called for less immigration from Haiti and Africa but more from Norway… Doesn’t make him a racist. You liberals are really reaching. Grow up!
(Edited by staff.)A drimk racist? Why I never!
HA! This county has serious denial issues about race. So is this the clown and his white supremacist terrorists friends that are distributing the KKK flyers and the county officials doesn't care? This country is heading in a very dangerous direction and many are supporting it with the new administration. It's beyond scary.
Saying he's a "White Nationalist" and suggesting he has mental issues is kinda redundant, don't you think?
Duncan -- How in the heck do you connect white supremcy to Donald Trump....that is so off the wall, I have to call out that rant...
(Edited by staff.)Hopefully this guy will get the mental or substance abuse help he
Needs before claiming he's in the white supremacist movement. We
Don't want or need anyone unstable. So Cantwell, go cry somewhere
Else and stop saying your in the struggle.
That's the problem with a decentralized movement!
Are you afraid he will hurt the reputation of your white supremacist club? Sorry, not possible.
So, you’re a white supremacist, and this guy doesn’t meet your standards?
Another one of Trump's good people in the white nationalist movement.
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