Bomb Hoax Leads to Driver's Arrest

On Thursday, Largo Police arrested and charged 37-year-old Jeffrey Boreman with planting a hoax bomb on his own car.

Boreman was initially considered the victim, but surveillance video from a Target shows Boreman purchased a watch that was used in the fake bomb.

On July 16, Boreman left his Nissan Maxima at the Jiffy Lube on Walsingham Road and 137th Street for an oil change.

A technician spotted a suspicious device attached to the bottom of Boreman’s car. He notified Largo Police, and the Tampa Bomb Squad and agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrived to the scene to remove the device.

Businesses were shut down and evacuated for hours while a robot was used to recover the device that was attached to the undercarriage of Boreman’s vehicle.

During the investigation, detectives took apart the device and found that a piece of a watch used to make the bomb was sold at Target. Investigators researched the sale of that watch in the nearby area during the past 30 days and found that four were sold.

They obtained surveillance video from Target on one of the individuals, who fit Boreman's description, purchasing the watch, detectives said.

Boreman also purchased batteries and glue that investigators think was used in the making of the device.

Detectives used a photograph to confirm that the man in the surveillance video was Boreman. On July 21, Boreman contacted Largo Police Department stating he wanted to provide additional information about the incident. Detectives interviewed Boreman at the station and he acknowledged planting the hoax bomb, officials said.

He was arrested and charged with a second-degree felony at 12:22 p.m. Thursday. Boreman was released hours later on $10,000 bail.

Watch the My Fox Tampa Bay video report.