Posted on 05/23/2005 9:25:26 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Swap Shop vendors on Saturday were still amazed and confused by the violent events that put Preston Henn in the hospital under the Baker Act.
Henn, 74, was carted away in a BSO squad car after witnesses said he attacked Swap Shop vendor Joel Leibovitch, bowled over a BSO District Chief and kicked out a window in the car after deputies used a Taser to subdue him.
Leibovitch and others said Henn grew more violent as the day progressed.
''I was victimized, brutalized and humiliated,'' said Leibovitch, 40, a longtime tenant at the Swap Shop.
Henn's attorney, William Scherer, said his client may have become violent because of a reaction he had to medications he is taking.
About 7 a.m. Friday, vendors were gearing up for the weekend rush of customers.
Leibovitch arrived at one of his seven food kiosks to find Henn, sporting his trademark Stetson hat, with a handful of Swap Shop employees loading food, supplies, and other merchandise from the store onto tractor-trailers.
When Leibovitch tried to stop them, Henn yelled rudely at him, he said.
''They were like storm troopers, taking anything they wanted,'' Leibovitch said.
The longtime vendor claimed to have no idea why Henn would want to kick him out. The group visited each of his kiosks, ordering out the employees, pulling down the security shutters and locking them, witnesses said.
Leibovitch said he called BSO, but when they arrived, they were unsure whether Henn was doing anything illegal.
''They kept telling me it was a civil matter, and I said stealing my merchandise is not a civil matter,'' said Leibovitch. Henn and his men continued to throw glass bottles, soda containers, chicken pieces, ice cream and other items into the tractor-trailers, witnesses said. When deputies did try to stop Henn, he became enraged.
According to witnesses, Henn insisted that it was his property, and ordered everyone off.
At one point, Henn pulled down a kiosk security shutter, only to turn around and find Leibovitch pushing it back up.
As two deputies stood by, Henn lunged at Leibovitch, running into him with both of his fists, witnesses said. Leibovitch fell to the asphalt, injuring his head and back, he said.
While Leibovitch was taken to Plantation General Hospital, Henn continued to shut down his kiosks.
When Leibovitch returned to the Swap Shop a few hours later, he said he asked a BSO District Chief to stop Henn.
A short time later, Henn was handcuffed near the entrance to the Swap Shop's movie parking lot. As deputies tried to calm him down, he kicked one and pushed another, witnesses said.
He calmed down and was released from the handcuffs, then fled in a golf cart to his on-site office.
After about 20 minutes, Henn rushed out of the office and bowled over BSO District Chief George Jarboe, witnesses said. Deputies used on a stun gun to subdue him.
From the back seat of a squad car, Henn kicked out one of the windows as he screamed for someone to help him, witnesses said. Deputies took him into custody under Florida's Baker Act.
''He's doing fine,'' Henn's wife, Betty Henn, said late Saturday on her way to her husband's room at Imperial Point Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.
Henn is the owner of the Swap Shop, an 88-acre expanse that includes a circus, South Florida's only drive-in movie theater and a flea market that entertains about 12 million shoppers a year.
He also is one of Broward's foremost political power brokers, sitting on the the county's Tourism Development Council.
As of Friday night, Henn was not facing any criminal charges, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Hugh Graf said.
No new information was available Saturday.
''This incident is still under investigation,'' Graf said. ``Any time anyone files a complaint or a concern that a crime has been committed with us, we're happy to conduct a thorough investigation.''
Leibovitch did not say whether he has filed a complaint.
He said he has a videotape of parts of Friday's melee, and is examining his legal options.
Leibovitch's "crime" probably was that he was making too much of a profit. Henn HATES it when anyone other than himself is making money.
Leibovitch said he called BSO, but when they arrived, they were unsure whether Henn was doing anything illegal.
Probably because the BSO is in Henn's pocket.
After about 20 minutes, Henn rushed out of the office and bowled over BSO District Chief George Jarboe, witnesses said. Deputies used on a stun gun to subdue him.
Too much white snow in the nasal passages does tend to make you act funny.
BTW, Preston Henn is one of the most HATED people down here. Almost anybody that knows Preston has stories about him because Henn is completely paranoid and suspicious about everybody. One time a friend of mine who was selling that morning at the Swap Shop saw Preston and said, "Good morning, Preston." Big mistake. Henn just sat in his golf cart and stared coldly at the guy. I told him later Preston must have thought the guy was trying to get something out of him and his paranoia wouldn't allow him to reply with any sort of normal human response.
Oh yeah, I did once meet a Swap Shop vendor who amazingly claimed to actually like Preston. So what happened? Preston eventually threw that vendor out of the Swap Shop.
The Swap Shop in Ft. Lauderdale is a great place to shop but it is owned by someone who is a complete WACKO. And I have NO SYMPATHY at all for Preston. For years he promised the janitors who toiled there cleaning his bathrooms a good benefits package after a certain amount of time. Then he backed out of the deal. Preston DISTRUSTS the entire world. And now the paranoia has finally caught up with him.
FYI
You might want to let other SoFladite Freepers know about this story. I've been telling folks for a long time what a MENTAL CASE Preston is but they had a hard time believing my stories. This article just confirms what a paranoid whack job Preston is.
But what kind of a grudge does Henn have against the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra?
He may actually be mentally ill, and may have been for some time.. ( years? )
Seems to me he should be committed for psychological evaluation, and if warranted, treatment for schizophrenia..
Baker Act?
as in JLP, Sr.
You sort of have to meet Henn to find out what a MISERABLE person he is. Picture Scrooge only even more miserable. Henn is worth MILLIONS but goes through life MISERABLE that there is a penny or two out there that someone else is earning supposedly at his expense. He trusts NO ONE. There will be NO Spirit of Christmas to make Henn a better person.
Yeah, "medications" taken via the nasal passage does tend to have that effect on you.
Actually Henn is a big Republican backer. However, just because one is Republican doesn't keep him from being a dirtbag. I'm being even handed here. I'm not going to claim Henn is a nice guy just because he supports Republicans. The fact is that Henn is a paranoid jerk. The guy has MILLIONS but it kills him that someone out there is making a few bucks. Most likely he thought this food court vendor was making too much money and decided to evict him ONLY for that reason.
The dreaded paranoia issue!
Frankly I'm surprised anyone caught on to the reference.
"Yeah, "medications" taken via the nasal passage does tend to have that effect on you."
So do some properly prescribed and taken oral medications. I had a bad reaction to a drug called "mobic." It's an NSAID, prescribed for arthritis and bursitis, among other things. Basically, jet-propelled aspirin, but I had a truely bad "psychotic" reaction to it the very first time I took it. Scared h*ll out of my wife, and me, too. Ever felt like something was crawling on your skin? With elephant feet? ER visit, and fortunately, the doc I drew had a similar reaction to another common drug, years back, so knew what to do about it, mostly keep me under observation until it wore off completely, while ready to treat if it turned into a severe allergic reaction.
This is not to say this particular character isn't psychotic, but he may have become even more so due to some legal drug, as well. Of course, you may be right about it, too. Folks with too much money have a tendency to do stuff like that, too.
I don't know about psychotic but PARANOID definitely describes Preston Henn. Just recently he raised the price on some days for parking to $5. Preston just HATES the idea that there might be a few bucks out there that he is not getting his greedy hands on.
BTW, just about every square inch of the Swap Shop is covered by video cameras so this entire incident must have been captured on tape. Is there some national TV show that could use this stuff? I would LOVE to see the whole incident on the tube. This is worthy of a national broadcast.
"BTW, just about every square inch of the Swap Shop is covered by video cameras so this entire incident must have been captured on tape. Is there some national TV show that could use this stuff? I would LOVE to see the whole incident on the tube. This is worthy of a national broadcast."
I don't watch tv much, so I couldn't help you there. I'm an ex-Floridian, but from up in the Panhandle, and only adoptively even then. Twice stationed at Eglin AFB, and planned on retiring there until the Walton County election supervisors denied my right to vote there, twice, while I was overseas.
We ought to do a Broward Freeper Get together one night at the movies...
Henn is universally DESPISED by everybody. He treats his employees like crap, firing them with regularity, and he treats the vendors even worse. Preston better pray that an intrepid journalist doesn't dig just beneath the surface of what he does over there since there is a lot of rotting wood. I already found out something today about this story when I went there that the reporters missed.
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