FedEx driver charged with false report of robbery

OCALA - A FedEx truck driver who told Ocala police last month of being robbed and forced to use his ATM card to withdraw money from various locations was charged Friday with filing a false report, grand theft, forgery and uttering a false instrument.

He confessed to making up the story because a man threatened him about money, according to an Ocala police report.

On Aug. 29, Brad J. Williams, 27, told police that he was in his truck at the intersection of Southeast Fifth Street and Southeast First Avenue when a gunman jumped into the truck. Williams said the masked man opened a box that contained checks, ordered him to fill them out and went to a check-cashing store to cash them. Williams also told police that the man forced him to use his ATM card to withdraw money at different places.

Police officers went to the check-cashing store, and the clerk said Williams seemed calm. Authorities also reviewed a video from Publix, one of the places he went for cash, and didn’t see anyone in the FedEx truck.

In an interview with Williams, police say, he confessed to making up the story because a man had threatened him. He was then arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail.

Austin L. Miller can be reached at austin.miller@starbanner.com or 352-867-4118.