Aliperti, from Huntington, on the north shore of New York's Long Island, told the boy he knew where he went to school, said police. He allegedly told the youngster “I will come to your house tonight and f*** you up", reporter Stacey Sager tweeted. Police did not reveal whether Aliperti knew the boy's identity, but they increased security at his school, RJO Intermediate School in Kings Park, as a precaution. Suffolk County Police Department Chief Stuart Cameron told reporters: "For an adult to threaten an 11-year-old kind of gives a new definition to a sore loser.
The threats were made around 9pm on Monday night, said police. It said Aliperti was arrested almost five hours later at 1.40am on Tuesday. He was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment and acting in a manner to injure a child. After he was charged, a reporter went to Aliperti's home and spoke to a woman who said she was his sister.
She tearfully told the reporter he is a dad-of-three who owns a landscaping business. Andrew Karpf, defending, told the news channel that Aliperti is going through a contentious divorce and is under a lot of stress. Meanwhile, a tech expert says the allegations should serve as a wakeup call to parents whose children play online games against strangers. Lance Ulanoff said: "You wouldn't let your child go walking in an unknown neighbourhood by themselves, but parents let their kids play video games by themselves all the time."The game has been mentioned in more than 200 divorce proceedings in the UK since the start of 2018. Recently, online rumours sparked fears that the online game would shut down. Last week, a four-year-old boy broke his arm when he jumped off a slide with an umbrella thinking he could float after watching Fortnite videos on YouTube, his mum claims. Police have urged parents to monitor their children's activity on online video games and are aware of who they're playing with. Fortnite has become a hugely popular franchise since its release in July last year. But some players have become so addicted that it's caused problems for parents and spouses.