Jail finds man’s 24-inch machete hidden in fat roll, protruding from groin, Memphis cops say

A Memphis man faces charges after officers said he tried sneaking a machete into jail and told officers it was just his genitalia.

Officers said they discovered a 24-inch machete hidden under 30-year-old Freddrick Johnson’s skin in a fat roll on Dec. 16 as they were getting ready to process him at the jail on earlier charges, WMC reports. The machete was wrapped in gym shorts, according to the TV station.

Before discovering the machete, officers said they searched Johnson and found a taser, several bags of suspected controlled substances and two folding knives, WREG reports.

That prompted officers to ask Johnson if he was hiding any other weapons. Johnson said he wasn’t — but then officers at the Shelby County Detention Center spotted an object tucked in his skin near the left side of his groin, they said, according to WMC. Officers asked Johnson if the object was his genitalia, and Johnson said it was. But then the officers spotted another object pointing the opposite direction, WMC reports.

Officers said they asked Johnson again if he was hiding something. It wasn’t until a strip search was threatened that Johnson handed over the machete, WATN reports.

An affidavit described the machete as “tucked deep underneath a large fat roll,” WATN reports. Officers said the ploy nearly worked because the weapon “had been so deeply tucked into and covered by a fat roll that metal detection screenings did not reveal its presence prior to his entering the detention area.”

Officers then searched Johnson again and found nothing, WREG reports.

Johnson now faces charges of taking contraband into a penal institution, manufacturing an imitation controlled substance and aggravated criminal trespassing, according to online Shelby County Sheriff’s Office records, which describe him as 6 feet 2 inches tall and 320 pounds.

He is being held on $16,000 bond, jail records said.

Johnson — who has a history of public masturbation, according to police — had been arrested earlier on Dec. 16 on charges of trespassing at a Greyhound bus station, WMC reports.