JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Reed Oxley doesn't want to wait for his trial on charges that he threatened to blow up the Comcast office on Roosevelt Boulevard to tell his side of the story.
The 72-year-old man approached News4Jax outside the courthouse to say he was arrested in March 2014 after complaining to Comcast about $742 that was taken from his bank account. Oxley didn't initially mention anything about a bomb, but he did say that Public Defender Matt Shirk his personally handling the case.
Oxley said he had been dealing with Comcast for about six months before the incident, trying to get money that was deducted from his account returned to him. Oxley said he was at the office on a Saturday and being ignored by a clerk which whom he had worked.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report, Oxley wrote this on a piece of paper and handed it to the clerk:
"I'm giving you 30 more days from 03/15/14 to return my $742.52, or you will suffer serious consequences."
"I meant legal consequences, which I did after that. I reported them to the BBB and Florida Consumer Protection," Oxley said. "She immediately took it and walked in the back. And I was there waiting for her waiting for her."
The note did not specify legal consequences, only serious consequences, and according to police report, the clerk said Oxly told her, "I'm building a bomb" and, "You know that I am prior military." She said he added: "I'm serious; I'm going to blow you guys up."
Oxley claims that he never said that. He said he waited for some time for the clerk to return, then left the store. He was down the street when he got a call from police saying that they needed to talk to him.
"All of a sudden, two JSO vehicles swarm in behind me and they jump out and they jerked me off the scooter and put me up against the car," Oxley said.
When Oxley found out that he was charged with threatening to discharge a bomb, "I couldn't believe it."
Police asked if they could search his apartment, which he allowed. The police report said officers didn't find anything of interest.
"I just didn't know that that young lady took that kind of impulse from 'serious consequences,'" Olxey said. "I had said 'serious consequences before,' and I don't mean, 'I'm going to blow you up.'"
Oxley was released on his own recognizance pending his trial in October. Shirk decided to defend Oxley himself, but he has not returned a call asking why.
The State Attorney Office did release a statement on the case:
"The State Attorney's Office has evaluated the facts and circumstances in this case and filed the appropriate charge. On October 5, 2015, this case will go to trial and a jury will determine if the defendant is guilty of this charge."
Comcast issued a statement:
"This is a pending legal matter, so we can't comment on the specifics of the case. We put the safety of our customers and employees first and take it extremely seriously whenever anyone makes public threats or exhibits behavior that could put our customers or employees in harm's way. We respect Mr. Oxley's opinion and his service to our country. We also hope others won't rush to judgment on this incident without knowing all the facts about what happened. Any further questions about the case should be directed to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office."
Oxley said he still has not gotten his money back from Comcast.