OAKLAND — He allegedly vowed he’d die before agreeing to shut down his food stand when city inspectors deemed it a public nuisance, then beat a permit inspector and blocked in the man’s car.
Now, Edison Gbollie has been ordered to take anger management courses, reflect on his alleged crimes, and stay out of the unpermitted food stand business, court records show. If he is deemed to have completed these tasks, he can avoid a criminal conviction.
Gbollie was charged with misdemeanors last year for allegedly attacking the permit inspector, damaging his car, and blocking the vehicle in during a dispute about Gbollie’s unlicensed food stand on the 1700 block of Broadway, court records show. The incident came after officials cited Gbollie and sent him several cease-and-desist letters.
Oakland officials say the food stand stood out, even in a city riddled with illegal casinos, a thriving underground fireworks business, sideshows, afterhours clubs and bars, smoke shops that sell drugs, and other code enforcement problems. Pictures of the stand filed in court by the city show a hodgepodge of food ingredients, spices, cooking oils, pots, crates, and propane tanks powering a campfire stove. It all rests under an outdoor booth overhang with no logo or menu visible.
Last December, Gbollie was allowed to go into diversion, over an objection by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. He is required to complete a 12-week anger management course, stay away from the area where his stand once sat, and “write a letter reflecting on how a criminal conviction would impact your life and goals,” court records show.
His first progress report will be in June, and if everything goes well, the case will be thrown out of court by December, records show.