JEA customer says security guard frisked him during service visit; the utility company responds

A Jacksonville man says a JEA security guard patted him down when he went to the utility’s Pearl Street office to change the billing address on his account.Michael Rodney said a guard asked him to enter another room, walk through a metal detector and then submit to a search.“After I walked through the metal detector, he started patting me down, searching me, asking me if I had any weapons on me,” Rodney said. “And I asked him, ‘What was this for, for just transferring lights?’”Rodney said he was told the screening was to help employees in the financial department feel safe.Rodney contacted an attorney, who reached out to News4JAX. Rodney said he learned the address had a “service risk flag” because the people who previously lived there had been deported to Venezuela, and JEA believed he was associated with them.JEA said the flag is lifted once the utility determines a customer is a new owner or tenant, allowing that person to activate service.In a statement, JEA said customers meeting