Driver Claims ‘Dirty Bomb’ Is In Truck At Publix: Police

DAVENPORT, FL — During a Friday night traffic stop at a Publix store in Davenport, a man claimed to have a “dirty bomb” in his truck, prompting a bomb squad investigation, the Haines City Police Department said in a news release.

Officers responded to the grocery store at 39883 Highway 27 after reports of a traffic crash involving a Chevrolet Silverado.

The driver, 43-year-old Benjamin Donald Johnson, refused to get out of the truck, leading to officers physically removing him from the vehicle, “at which point multiple firearms were observed in plain view,” the sheriff’s office said.

While he was detained in the back of a patrol vehicle, he told officers that there was a “dirty bomb” in the back of his truck, HCPD said.

Officers found a yellow plastic container secured with chains and locks with a radioactive warning label and immediately moved it a safe distance away with the help of the Bureau of Fire, Arson, and Explosives.

Before the bomb squad got to the scene, a Florida state fire investigator responded and confirmed that the container was emitting positive radioactivity, police said.

Investigators, working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, ATF, and an FBI bomb technician, learned that the device inside of the yellow container was a moisture density gauge, which is commonly used for soil testing and contained less radioactivity than a medical X-ray.

The container was brought to the police department, where it will be inspected by the Florida Bureau of Radioactive Material.

While searching Johnson’s truck, investigators found a number of firearms and ammunition, firearm magazine speed loaders, thermal scopes, knives, a battering ram, night vision goggles, cannabis, and gummies that tested positive for THC, police said.

During an interview, Johnson said he was in the area for work and had been living out of his vehicle with his dog. The animal was safely released to animal control

Johnson was booked into Polk County Jail and charged with hoax weapon of mass destruction, false report concerning a bomb or explosive, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and resisting officers without violence.

He was previously arrested for marijuana possession in Tennessee.