Hillsborough police arrest 2 found with explosive device in Walmart parking lot
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. Aug 31 2018 Two people were arrested Thursday morning after they were found with an explosive device, Hillsborough police said.
Police said the pair was sleeping in a car, which was parked in the parking lot of the Walmart located at 501 Hampton Pointe Blvd.
Officers spotted the car with its door open, which was near the store’s garden center.
Around 5:30 a.m., an officer approached the vehicle and woke up 33-year-old Jimmy Ray Poythress and 30-year-old Brandy Renee Benson.
The officer then searched the vehicle and found a homemade explosive device inside of a bag.
The Durham County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene and determined that the device was harmless.
“At this point, it appears these people had stopped while traveling through our area,” Hillsborough Police Chief Duane Hampton Duane Hampton said in a release. “We have not linked them to any activity in our area but are sharing the information with other jurisdictions.”
A check on Poythress revealed several orders for an arrest in Wilson and Duplin counties.
He was arrested and charged with felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction, felony possession of a firearm by a felon, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
Poythress was booked into the Orange County Jail under a $117,000 bond.
Benson was arrested and charged with felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
She was booked into the Orange County Jail under a $25,000 bond.
WTVD