Man who mistook woman for scammer reaches deal in bomb scare case

A Port Washington man who thought he was threatening scammers harassing him with cell phone calls when instead he dialed a Grafton woman and created a bomb scare in September has reached a deal with prosecutors that gives him the opportunity to avoid a criminal conviction.

Steven M. Gonyer, 51, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Ozaukee County District Attorney’s Office earlier this month that calls for the charge against him to be dismissed if he complies with the conditions of the deal.

Gonyer pleaded no contest on Feb. 2 to one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a telephone-threatening harm, but under the terms of the agreement a finding of guilt was withheld.

He was initially charged with creating a bomb scare, a felony, but that charge was amended.

At about 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, a Grafton woman called police to report that she had just received a call from a man later identified as Gonyer who asked, “Who are you?”

The woman said she asked the same question of Gonyer, who then said, “I planted a bomb in your building,” according to the criminal complaint.

Authorities evacuated the woman’s townhouse on Bur Oak Lane and three adjacent homes and called the Milwaukee Bomb Squad. No explosive devices were found and residents were allowed to return to their homes after about two hours, Capt. Emmett Grissom of the Grafton Police Department said at the time. 

When questioned by police, Gonyer said he receives several cell phone calls a day from people telling him his security has been breached and that he is wanted by authorities. When he received one of those calls on Sept. 17, he returned it, unaware that the number of the woman he called had  apparently been spoofed, or stolen, by scammers to disguise their number. Gonyer said he was just kidding about the bomb.

Conditions of his deferred prosecution agreement include not committing crimes and not having contact with the woman he called. If at the end of 18 months Gonyer has complied with all the conditions, prosecutors will ask the judge to dismiss the case against him. 

If he violates the conditions, Gonyer would be sentenced.