ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – A St. Petersburg man is accused of dumping eight EVO scooters into Tampa Bay just after midnight Sunday morning.

According to an arrest affidavit, 20-year old Parker Leonard was with his friends at the intersection of 2nd Avenue Northeast and Bayshore Drive Northeast when they ‘threw’ the scooters.

Leonard is facing a felony criminal mischief charge

St. Petersburg police said if they determine his friends were also involved in tossing the scooters, they too could face charges.

Alex Keating, VEO director of public policy issued the following statement:

“Unfortunately, cases of vandalism like this occasionally occur in any public shared micromobility system. Veo responds immediately to any report from the public, or authorities, and our local operations staff, who are on call 24/7, assess the safest and quickest way to recover the vehicles so that they spend as little time submerged as possible. The recovered scooters are inspected by our in-house mechanics to salvage whatever parts remain usable and the batteries are processed for recycling if any damage is identified. The best way to help prevent these issues is for the public to report any sign of vandalism to the local police or by contacting Veo Customer Service at 1 855 VEO-2256.”

According to the arrest report, the scooters are valued at $750 each, so the value in loss for VEO is $6,000.

What you can’t put a price on is the potential damage to the environment. Sheila Scolaro is with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. “Tampa Bay is the beating heart of not only our economy but also the offshore organisms,” said Scolaro. “When I hear about stories like those, that breaks my heart. Because I basically have chosen to dedicate my life to preserving and protecting the estuaries.”

A number of people who work on the St. Pete Pier, near where the scooters were dumped are also chiming in. Sun Janjanam wants to know why?

“I used to be a Girl Scout so I am a big advocate for our earth and keeping it clean,” said Janjanam. “So I think it is completely insane why you would do that. “

Natasha Ross has the same question.

“I think it’s ridiculous. And it’s very silly,” said Ross. “Now somebody has to lose money and business because of stupidity.”