A knife-wielding man held another man hostage for more than an hour in the downtown head office of 3-For-1 Pizza yesterday in an apparent dispute over a bad cheque…The company, owned by Reva Solhi, is the target of a $2.5-million lawsuit by a group of disgruntled franchisees.
The Toronto Sun
March 31, 1998
Pizza exec threatened
Knife held at throat in argument
Rob Lamberti
A knife-wielding man held another man hostage for more than an hour in the downtown head office of 3-For-1 Pizza yesterday in an apparent dispute over a bad cheque.
No one was injured during the standoff, in which a knife was held to the throat of a senior company official in an eighth-floor office on Bay St. at Queen’s Quay W.
The company, owned by Reva Solhi, is the target of a $2.5-million lawsuit by a group of disgruntled franchisees.
The suspect in yesterday’s incident is not believed to be part of the suit.
A man, described as a franchisee, was arrested after the 2 p.m. incident, described by Toronto Police as a business dispute.
A knife was later seized by police.
Negotiator
Sgt. Jim Muscat said police secured the eighth floor and an emergency task force negotiator began talking with the armed man through a locked door.
He surrendered to police about an hour later.
Muscat, said the victim was shaken up but not harmed.
Although police said officially it was a business dispute, a source said the standoff stemmed from a bad cheque.
People working in other offices on the same floor said they didn’t know the drama was unfolding.
“It was pretty quiet up there,” one woman said.
“We didn’t know anything until police told us to leave.”
Stayed in office
She said most of the 3-For-1 staff remained in the office while the standoff continued.
No one at the company wanted to speak after the incident.
Douglas John Boyack, 59, of Peterborough, is charged with forcible confinement, assault with a weapon, threatening death and possession of a dangerous weapon.
He is scheduled to appear in Old City Hall court this morning.
The pending lawsuit alleges operators are forced to purchase at inflated prices, sales potential was misrepresented and fines are levied for contractual infractions.
Solhi denies the accusations, and said the group wants to start their own chain of pizza shops.
The head of the group, Ali Mahmoudzadeh, said no one connected with the lawsuit was involved in the hostage incident.
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Risks: Violence, Police intervention, Landlord betrayal, False earnings claims, Gouging on rent and equipment, Gouging on supplies, Death threats, Forcible confinement, Unilateral fines, Disgruntled, Canada, 19980331 Pizza exec
