Florida man with cardboard license tag arrested after 2 pipe bombs, drugs discovered in vehicle: WCSO

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Published  May 6, 2025 1:53pm EDT
FOX 13 News
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The Brief

    • A Florida man is accused of having drugs and two pipe bombs in a car.
    • According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the man was pulled over while driving a car with a cardboard license plate with the word ‘PRIVATE’ on it.
    • Benjamin Roach was taken to the Walton County Jail, and has been charged with making a bomb, possessing explosives, possession of a controlled substance, tampering with evidence, possession of drug paraphernalia, and several other charges.

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. - A Florida man is facing charges after deputies say he had two pipe bombs and methamphetamine in his vehicle.

What we know:

According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, deputies pulled over a car at Smith Road and Highway 90 late Monday with a cardboard tag that read, "PRIVATE."

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Deputies say the driver claimed he had no identification, but they found a birth certificate inside the vehicle that identified the driver as Benjamin Adam Roach, 37, of DeFuniak Springs.

Courtesy: Walton County Sheriff's Office
Courtesy: Walton County Sheriff's Office

While searching the car, deputies said they found methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and two cylinder-shaped objects.

According to WCSO, one was a piece of PVC with two caps on each end. The other was a cylinder object wrapped heavily with black electrical tape.

Courtesy: Walton County Sheriff's Office

Dig deeper:

When asked about the objects, deputies say Roach admitted that they had gunpowder in them. When asked specifically if the objects had a fuse, he initially said no, but later said one did have a fuse, according to WCSO.

At that time, the Bay County Bomb Squad and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were notified and responded to the scene.

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Courtesy: Walton County Sheriff's Office

After an investigation, the Bay County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad advised that the two objects were pipe bombs and disarmed them.

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Roach was taken to the Walton County Jail and has been charged with making a bomb, possessing explosives, possession of a controlled substance, tampering with evidence, possession of drug paraphernalia, and several other charges.

What we don't know:

It is unclear why Roach had the two pipe bombs in his car or what he was going to do with them.

The Source: This story was written with information posted by the Walton County Sheriff's Office. 

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