The Tennessee sheriff’s office says the driver of a van truck that was heard playing audio at a convenience store outside of Nashville Sunday has been jailed for criminal charges. But authorities say he had no explosives.
The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office says members of a church and customers at the nearby market where the white box truck was seen in Lebanon, about 25 miles east of Nashville, heard the driver playing audio “similar to what was heard” before a RV exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas Day.
Sergeant. Steve Craig said lawmakers were called in to investigate reports of the truck driver playing audio “out loud” outside the market and later learned that the man was charged with similar actions outside a church during a service at the beginning of the day.
Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee
The Tennessee Highway Patrol said a robot was sent to investigate the truck and no device was found.
Nearby residents were evacuated while the white truck was being combed, according to WTVF-TV, a CBS Nashville affiliate.
The sheriff’s office said in a statement that 33-year-old driver James Turgeon was arrested and charged with two felony counts of filing a false report and another of tampering with evidence.
Officials say the test handling charge came about because it “intentionally damaged the speaker system wiring.”
Turgeon is being held with $ 500,000 bonds, authorities said.