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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It has been a very cold winter, but one of the hottest places in town could be the JEA customer call center.
It is taking a barrage of calls from customers, furious over their high utility bills.
One call led to the arrest of Charles Bradley. He faces one count of making threats.
The call happened last week with Bradley upset about a high bill.
"See this is the kind of aggravation that makes people go bananas because I work hard every day. I don't need this extra stress. ... I've never had a problem out of you guys until now. I'm very surprised," Bradley said on the call.
JEA WORKERS UNPLUGGED: ON THE CLOCK
All calls to the JEA customer center are recorded and are public records.
"That's why when I get down there I'm going to smash somebody's f***ing brains in," Bradley says on the call. "And I'm big enough to do it too."
Later, Bradley asks, "Do you have a husband?"
"Yes sir," the JEA worker replies.
"Have him meet me at the gym tonight. I'm dead serious. You can come too."
Another threat cited by police: "Like I said, I'm not from here. So when you f*** me I get to f*** you back."
JEA has a police officer that works solely on issues relating to their department.
"All lot of it is frustration and when they get frustrated, they get angry. They think they can take it out on JEA employees," said JEA spokesperson Gerri Boyce.
Boyce said punishment ranges from jail time to writing letters of apology. "But what we want people to understand is that we do take these threats seriously," Boyce said.
Bradley declined to talk on camera, but in a calm telephone conversation said, "I know what I did was wrong. ... I allowed myself to get wrapped up in a whirlwind."
But Bradley is still frustrated about that high bill and is wondering why a manager hasn't returned his call.
Bradley also said he works for a bill collector, making phone calls to people every day and people threaten to kill him all the time, but he is not offended and doesn't report it to police.
Registered: Mar 2008
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