Civilian officer charged with weapons crimes after investigation into cop threats on alt-right socia
SAN JOSE — A civilian community service officer for San Jose, who briefly served as a sworn police officer, has been charged with gun crimes after he reportedly elicited FBI attention for his remarks to followers of alt-right social media, including allegedly advocating for killing cops.
Denis Shevchenko, 40, of Gilroy, was charged this week with three misdemeanor counts alleging illegal weapons possession, topped by a charge that he kept an unpermitted loaded handgun in his locker at the South San Jose substation of the police department, which oversees the community service officer program that employs him. He was arraigned Tuesday and is currently out of custody.
In response to an inquiry from this news organization, the police department said it planned to address the allegations against Shevchenko at a Friday morning news conference. Calls made to listed phone numbers for Shevchenko were not answered Thursday, and court records do not show a listed attorney for him.
The weapons charges resulted from a police investigation into Shevchenko prompted by the FBI San Francisco Bay Area division’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, which reportedly linked him to a series of potentially threatening comments posted May 24 on the alt-right social-media platform Gab.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/10/21/san-jose-civilian-officer-charged-with-weapons-crimes-after-investigation-into-cop-threats-on-alt-right-social-media/
