22-year-old former corrections officer arrested with hit list, pipe bomb in Nelson County, police say

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former corrections officer was arrested after police found a hit list and a bomb in his bedroom at his home near Bardstown.

Mason Johnson, 22, was arrested early Monday at a home on Jim Clark Road in Balltown, about six miles south of Bardstown.

Nelson County Sheriff's deputies learned about Johnson after responding to an injury accident late Sunday night.

"While they were working it somebody came to them and said, 'hey we had someone turn blue lights on us and pretty much do a traffic stop,'" Bryan said.

Bryan said Johnson was impersonating police. Deputies got a search warrant at Johnson's parents' home, where he was living. His parents answered the door and let police inside.

"The suspect lived in the basement so the units go to the basement, he was asleep thankfully," Bryan said. "The way that this happened is probably the safest involved."

As police woke up Johnson, they also found several guns, which he was ordered not to have, along with a pipe bomb and law enforcement gear. Kentucky State Police's bomb squad responded, but an ensuing X-ray showed the bomb didn't have any gunpowder and was safe to remove.

Johnson had police gear like vests, a taser, patches, a baton and a full duty belt. Bryan believes the man purchased the police equipment online.

"It's a slap in the face, we have enough people who don't need to be in law enforcement that give us a bad name," Bryan said. "We don't need people that are impersonating us to give us a bad name as well. It makes you want to get them off the streets because you don't know what their intentions are."

Police also found Johnson's journals with a detailed hit list of those who have wrong him and how he would kill them.

Johnson was charged with attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, possession of destructive device or booby trap device, use of weapon of mass destruction and impersonating a peace officer.

He was a former corrections officer for Larue County and a volunteer for the New Hope Fire Department.

Johnson was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Nelson County Correctional Center.

"This would have been very bad if it would have played out," Bryan said.

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22-year-old former corrections officer arrested with hit list, pipe bomb in Nelson County, police say