Who is William Swift? Vegan-hater threatens to 'do a f**king Ted Bundy' if fruit festival is held
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: A vegan-hater from New York was arrested on Tuesday, August 9, for allegedly making death threats against an upstate fruit festival. William Swift, 32, of Brooklyn, told an organizer that he would "do a f**king Ted Bundy" to her unless she called off the event. He appeared in the Brooklyn federal court and was charged with menacing organizers and attendees of the festival. The festival is described as a "vegan health retreat" and "an all-out celebration of health, fruit-based d,iet and personal growth".
The Woodstock Fruit Festival takes place at Camp Walden located in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. The festival's website states, "Every year we hunt for the world's most exquisite fruit to create a week of enchanting discovery and adventure! You might fall under the spell of sugary sweet watermelon, experience the explosive zest of freshly squeezed orange juice, indulge in juicy mangoes or buttery papayas, discover mamey sapote, longans, and lychees, taste the exotic magic of dragon fruit and mangosteen, or maybe even become a fan of the legendary durian! Who knows what treat Mother Nature has in store for us this year!"
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Who is William Swift?
William Swift reportedly quit his vegan lifestyle and community and he often rants about veganism and fruitarianism on his Instagram page. One of his Instagram posts features racks full of fruits, with the caption, "This was my kitchen in 2017 when I lived in jersey city by the Statue of Liberty I went really f**king crazy and I discourage it."
Another post with pictures of fruits reads, "My life has only got painfully worse since eating this way in 2013. Vegans and fruitarian are the worst. The main thing that affects our health is our genetics. Health is inherited not earned. Dr. Doug Graham is a scammer and a thief. Remember the most famous person to attend Woodstock is Nikocado. This is disordered eating."
Swift also shared a screenshot of a New York Post article with the headline that states, 'Vegan mom starved toddler to death with diet of raw vegetables, fruit'. He captioned the post, "I swear to God, I hate vegans and raw vegans. I’m not a fruitarian anymore I just don’t want to change my name to William Swift. I hate that too. I hate Doug Graham and FoodNsport and 80/10/10. They’re awful people."
Swift started threatening the festival's organizers in emails and audio recordings. The Woodstock Fruit Festival is scheduled to be held at the end of August. "The ideal thing would be to go up to Woodstock to shoot up...the Jewish meet up. That would be ideal," one of his messages read, according to court filings. As per a memo filed this week, he is a self-described 'incel', according to the Daily Mail. Incels are men who claim to be 'involuntarily celibate'.
In the messages, he threatened to carry out a mass shooting and stab people connected to the upcoming festival. In an audio recording, he told an unnamed woman organizer that he fantasized about doing a 'f**king Ted Bundy' to her unless she shut down the event. Ted Bundy was an infamous American serial killer who kidnapped, raped, and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s.
"I'm sorry to say this but I can't stop fantasizing about doing very, very, very bad things to you, I don't have a plan I just fantasize about doing very, very bad things to you….," Swift said on the recording. The messages started coming in early 2022. He warned the woman in an email to not allow two men, who were associated with the festival, to attend, a federal complaint said.
Swift's threats began to become more violent throughout the year. He said that if these unidentified men visit the festival, he would shoot anyone in his way. "Yeah none of them can go to Woodstock, if I see them at Woodstock online I'll go to Woodstock with a gun and just shoot them or whoever else is in my way...not you, I'll never shoot you, yet," he said in one message. "I hope they all do come so I get to go up and shoot everyone," he said in another.
Allegedly threatening to kill someone associated with the event if he saw them in New York City, Swift said in an email in May, "[H]ey piece of s**t b***h, I want to make something clear, WFF is over. [JohnDoe-1's] retreats are over whether you like it or not. [I]f I see you, you will regret coming toNYC, and you will feel my pain." It is unclear if he has a connection to the event, or its organizers.
Swift was arrested by the NYPD in July for telling a friend that he had fantasies about shooting up Washington Square Park. The NYPD took him to a hospital for a psychological evaluation, and he was charged by a Manhattan prosecutor for falsely reporting an incident, the New York Daily News reported. The charge was not eligible for bail.