Canadian man accused in bomb scare at Fort Lauderdale airport was also arrested in 2019
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The man accused of making a false bomb threat Saturday at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has been in trouble with the law before.
Wegal Rosen, a 74-year-old Canadian man who owns a condo at Century Village in Deerfield Beach, was arrested in 2019 after getting into a scuffle with an elderly woman in the retirement community.
The case, with a third-degree felony charge of battery on a person over 65, was eventually dropped by the Broward State Attorney’s Office, court records show.
It is unlikely that will happen in the airport case, said Eric Schwartzreich, a defense attorney who is not representing Rosen.
Three airport terminals were evacuated Saturday after Rosen got into a heated argument with a worker at an airport ticket counter and claimed to have a bomb in his bag.
There was no bomb, but the airport was shut down for nearly four hours, causing widespread panic and confusion among passengers.
The incident also led to more than 50 flight delays and eight cancellations, an airport official said Sunday.
If convicted of the second-degree felony, Rosen could be sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $10,000.
The court could also require him to pay restitution to cover the costs and damages arising from his false bomb threat, Schwartzreich said.
“There’s all kind of damages — including the cost of having law enforcement shut down the airport.” he said. “It’s not a joking matter to make a false report of a bomb at the airport.”
Rosen was arrested Saturday and taken to the Broward Main Jail, where he remained Sunday.
Rosen paid $49,500 for an 828-square-foot condo at Century Village in 2016, property records show. He has another home on Queen St. E. in Toronto, according to court records.
It was in Century Village where he got into a dispute with a woman from the neighborhood that landed him in jail two years ago on Jan. 4, 2019.
Susan Leibowitz, now 79, helps work security for Century Village.
Leibowitz noticed Rosen park in the parking lot of a diner located inside the gated retirement community. She told him he couldn’t park his car there unless he went to the restaurant.
But Rosen refused to move his car, court records show.
“He was quite rude about it,” Leibowitz said Sunday.
He grabbed her hands when she got out her phone to take photos, she said. Leibowitz called Century Village security for backup, then called police.
When the deputy arrived, Rosen admitted to pushing the camera out of his face.
Leibowitz told police he grabbed her hands and ended up breaking one of her nails.
Leibowitz didn’t realize Rosen had been arrested in the airport bomb scare until getting a call from her sister Sunday morning.
“I’m not surprised really, to be very honest,” she said. “He was arrogant. I don’t know anything about him. He was just arrogant. He told me, ‘I will not move. I am staying here. You can’t make me move.’ This was the way he was. ‘I’m here. I can do what I want.’ I think he enjoyed it — until he got arrested.”
Deerfield Beach Commissioner Bernie Parness lives in Century Village but did not know Rosen personally.
“There’s only 16,000 people who live here,” Parness said Sunday.
But Parness remembers hearing about the parking lot scuffle two years ago.
“He blew his top and grabbed a woman over a parking space,” he said. “And she called police.”
Parness got a call from a higher up at the Sheriff’s Office Sunday letting him know a Century Village resident had been arrested in the bomb scare case.
But Parness doesn’t believe it reflects badly on his retirement community — or his city.
“We are not different than any other community,” he said. “That would mean I expect Century Village not to be a part of this world. Any neighborhood, any city, any town can have someone fly off the handle and do something stupid.”
