{"id":73843,"date":"2025-12-06T22:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T22:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/73843\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T22:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T22:49:06","slug":"florida-man-arrested-after-claiming-dirty-bomb-in-truck-following-crash-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/73843\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man arrested after claiming \u2018dirty bomb\u2019 in truck following crash, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAINES CITY, Fla. \u2013 A Florida man faces multiple charges after he told police he had a \u201cdirty bomb\u201d in his truck following a crash, according to a news release.<\/a><\/p>\n

Haines City police said they responded to the Publix located at 39883 Highway 27 in Davenport \u201clate Friday evening\u201d in reference to a crash involving a Chevrolet Silverado.<\/p>\n

According to the release, officers made contact with the driver, identified as 43-year-old Benjamin Donald Johnson, who refused multiple commands to exit the vehicle. Officers physically removed Johnson from the truck, where multiple firearms were seen in plain view.<\/p>\n

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While detained in a patrol vehicle, officers said they heard Johnson say he had a \u201cdirty bomb\u201d inside his truck. Officers said they discovered a yellow plastic container secured with chains and locks, bearing a radioactive warning label. They immediately moved to a safe distance, closed nearby roadways, and requested assistance from the Bureau of Fire, Arson, and Explosives.<\/p>\n

According to the release, a Florida State Fire Investigator arrived on the scene before the squad arrived and confirmed the container emitted positive radioactivity. <\/p>\n

\u201cThrough investigation with the assistance of representatives from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, ATF, and an FBI bomb technician, it was advised 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,\u201d the release said in part.<\/p>\n

Florida man arrested after claiming \u2018dirty bomb\u2019 in truck following crash, police say (Haines City Police Department)<\/p>\n

The container was taken to the police department for further inspection by the Florida Bureau of Radioactive Material, police said.<\/p>\n

In addition, a search of Johnson\u2019s truck a led to police finding a \u201cmultitude of firearms and ammunition,\u201d firearm magazine speed loaders, thermal scopes, knives, a battering ram, night-vision goggles, cannabis, and gummies that tested positive for THC.<\/p>\n

Firearms found in Benjamin Donald Johnson’s vehicle (Haines City Police Department)<\/p>\n

Johnson told police he was in the area for work and living out of his vehicle with his dog. The animal was safely released to animal control.<\/p>\n

Police said Johnson was taken to Polk County dail where he faces charges of hoax weapon of mass destruction, false report concerning a bomb or explosive, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and resisting officers without violence.<\/p>\n

A criminal history check showed a prior arrest for marijuana possession in Tennessee, according to the release.<\/p>\n

Roadways near the scene remained closed for several hours during the investigation to ensure public safety.<\/p>\n

The case remains under further investigation regarding the weapons recovered, police said.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAINES CITY, Fla. \u2013 A Florida man faces multiple charges after he told police he had a \u201cdirty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[265,7285,28,30,29,27941,1911,2546],"class_list":{"0":"post-73843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-crime","9":"tag-davenport","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-haines-city","14":"tag-polk-county","15":"tag-strange-florida"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}