Police said the owner of an Iowa City car repair business asked two Muslim men if they were terrorists or wearing bomb vests.

47 year old Chad Cermak now faces a third degree harassment charge. That's a simple misdemeanor. He declined to go on camera, but Cermak told KCRG he did ask the the two men if they were Muslim and where they were from. He said he was just trying to make conversation. He said he did not ask them anything about a suicide vest or about blowing up buildings.

Cermak owns Cermak Automotive in Iowa City. Police said the two men were getting their car fixed there around 4:00 P.M. Monday when Cermark made repeated offensive comments. Cermak said he never intended to offend the men, but a community organizer with the Center for Worker Justice said there's no excuse for harassment whether it was meant to be a joke or a poor choice of words.

"This is really ridiculous and I don't want to see something like this happening in our community. This community is a really awesome community and I don't think the people living in Johnson County will tolerate something like that," said Mazahir Salih with the Iowa City Center for Worker Justice.

Cermak pled not guilty to the charge and was released this morning. The Center for Worker Justice said Muslims commonly face issues in conversations, including inappropriate jokes and insulting questions.

_______________

PREVIOUS STORY:

A man has been charged with 3rd Degree Harassment after making comments to a customer at Cermak Automotive.

A report filed says on January 8 a customer came to Cermak Automotive at 1220 Gilbert Court around 4 p.m. when they were harassed.

The report claims Chad Cermak, 47, of Iowa City, who was working at the time, made multiple statements to the customer.

Some included, "Are you Muslim?" "Are you a terrorist?" Are you a suicide bomber and are you wearing a bomb vest?"

The customer reported that Cermak continued to make the comments, even though they had tried to end the conversation.

The customer said he was offended and felt alarmed and annoyed by the comments made by Cermak.

Cermak was charged with 3rd Degree Harassment.