Photo: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
A 46-year-old Tampa man, Bryan Robert Eckley, has been arrested and charged with leaving two remote-controlled improvised explosive devices in the men's restrooms at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, Florida. The devices were discovered on September 29, leading to the evacuation of the casino. The Seminole Police Department and Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad responded to the scene and deemed both devices safe.
Eckley was arrested on Wednesday (October 30) and charged with two counts of making, possessing, throwing, projecting, placing, or discharging any destructive device, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
The investigation revealed that Eckley had been seen behaving suspiciously at the casino on September 25, driving a white Ford Explorer that he had purchased under an alias and paid for in cash. He was also found to have used a burner cellphone and wore a mask to conceal his identity.
Eckley had been arrested by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office two days prior to the discovery of the devices on September 27 for aggravated assault with a firearm. Evidence from that case was compared to the casino case, leading to a match.
The case is still under investigation, and it's not clear what motivated Eckley to leave the explosives in the casino. If convicted, Eckley faces up to 30 years in the Florida state prison.