BRIDGEPORT — Several men apparently trying to collect on a loan made to a Park Avenue smoke shop owner didn’t get any cash, but did make off with the store’s slushie machine.
The minivan-driving loan collectors waited for the owner for about an hour Monday night at Smokers Spot at 1359 Park Ave. When he did not immediately arrive, they loaded the slushie machine into their Honda Odyssey and drove off.
The store employee told police that the men demanded $2,700 from him, but that he told them he didn’t have access to that kind of money. After waiting an hour, they decided to take the machine.
“They told the employee that he would be ‘Swiss cheese’ if he didn’t assist them with the machine,” said Bill Kaempffer, a police spokesman.
The store owner arrived later and told police he had borrowed money from of the men, who he thinks lives in the Bronx.
Police are investigating.
By David Owens, Hartford Courant