WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A South Florida man threw a hoax bomb into a motorcycle shop after employees wouldn't fix a scooter that he bought there, deputies said.
Gregory Gonzalez, 47, of Palm Springs, was arrested Thursday on charges of planting a hoax bomb and aggravated assault.
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According to a probable cause affidavit, Gonzalez was walking back and forth outside Cycle Ivan's on Forest Hill Boulevard last week when he pulled something out of a backpack and tossed it through an open door of the shop. The owner described the suspicious device as "a shotgun shell taped to a (carbon dioxide) cylinder."
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office bomb squad was called and determined the device to be a hoax bomb.
A witness at a nearby business spotted a man running through the front door of the clinic and out the back door, leaving a backpack next to the air-conditioning unit. Bomb squad detectives inspected the backpack and found a carbon dioxide gun and a mailing envelope with Gonzalez's address on it inside.
When deputies showed Cycle Ivan's owner Ivan Soberal a photographic lineup of suspects, Soberal identified Gonzalez and said he had recently purchased a scooter from the shop.
"Ivan stated in September he came by and wanted them to fix the scooter for free under the warranty and was told that the broken key was not covered under the warranty," the affidavit said. "Ivan stated that Gonzalez was very upset" and "had an attitude" every time he came in for service on the scooter.
When detectives questioned Gonzalez, he admitted to throwing a hoax bomb in the shop "to scare the employees," the affidavit said.
Gonzalez said he purchased a scooter from the shop and "has had a lot of problems with it and they won't fix it," the affidavit said. He also told detectives the employees make fun of him every time he's there "and he had enough," the affidavit said.