Even if you’ve never heard of Joseph Volpe, you’ve probably heard of people like him. Volpe was known as the “Trucker Spy” and would drive around the nation’s highways with video cameras hoping to find truck drivers with unsafe driving habits. His “company,” Third Eye Highway Safety, would then send a copy of the video to the driver’s trucking company who would pay him for exclusive rights to keep the video from being released to the public. Essentially, it amounts to good old fashioned blackmail. Living in a legal gray area for years, he took his unsavory activities quite a bit further, jumping all the way to attempted murder.
A court has found Volpe guilty of second-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. The incident occurred when, as usual, Volpe was driving on the highway looking for an easy mark. What he found instead was the truck of Bruce Johnston, a veteran owner operator.
Johnston had been forced from the middle lane of a three-lane interstate into the restricted left lane in order to avoid causing an accident. This placed him directly behind Volpe who began brake-checking, bringing his speed all the way down to 30 miles per hour. Volpe was becoming angrier and angrier until Johnston was able to get out of the left lane and back up to normal speeds. At this point, Volpe claimed that Johnston tried to run him off the road, but there is no evidence of anything like that happening.
What did happen is that Volpe pulled his car up to Johnston’s rig and fired a single round from his 9mm at Johnston through the back of the sleeper cab. The bullet passed through Johnston’s seat, missing his head by mere inches, and lodged in the driver’s side door.
Johnston was uninjured in the incident.
Three guilty verdicts were handed down to Volpe late in May and sentencing is scheduled for later this month.
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Throw the book at the guy!
Bout time they got this idiot! He was more an endangerment to the public than most of the trucks he was “chasing”
The things people do for money.
That guy’s got an anger management problem which can easily be solved … in about 20 years or so.
You think he’s angry now. Wait til he hits jail and starts getting passed around like a joint. LOL
Hang em High!
There’s an old saying “you’re gonna get yours”…I’ve been a victim of this idiots company tactics, only it was a female in n.c., with my old company they would try to embarass you with the tape or possibly fire you when things got slow, in my case I was going over the speed limit, running out of time with e-logs, trying to make it home on a Friday night I’m sure we’ve all been through that, I never violated the lane restriction, or ran anyone off the road, but you thought I would’ve killed somebody… I made the company high-light reel…and the safety department never called to tell me I was on tape, they just decided for safety’s sake to make me look like a clown…so, enjoy your time in jail sucker…& don’t drop the soap…
I’m happy one more crazy activist will never be on road.
Really I vote for bad driving be shown to public, but no black mail and no fabricating the wreckless situation.
It was a time in Russia when four wheeler drivers did crazy things with big rigs to get insuarance payments, but all this things are in past now becouse all trucks got DVR on dash. Dashcams are only weapon to stop this things on road
sweet I seen vidios on you tube from that turd
This has been going on so long….took cops long enough!! jerks like him & these big carriers personal spies & paid snitches….hopefully this is a warning to ALL those who STALK truckdrivers..
Stop whining and drive. If your not doing anything wrong you don’t have to worry about someone looking over your shoulder.
There’s a logical and timely response. I guess you have no problem with the government collecting your phone records or your internet history. Heck, you’re probably okay with random vehicle and home searches, too. After all, if you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
What you fail to understand, which if you have not been following this story except for the above article, is understandable is that Volpe and his company would intentionally “create” incidents with trucks. In other words, he would intentionally swerve in front of, brake check, cut off, and basically harass a truck until it made a mistake so that he could then tape the “unsafe” driver. These tactics were the same as what insurance scamers would do to create accidents with cars and trucks to the tune of millions until the insurance companies spent more millions shutting them down. Volpe would then approach the company with his protection racket, and make no mistake that is exactly what it was.
And, I agree with Jere, go ahead and turn over all of you personal information, private conversations and correspondence, and innermost thoughts. The Thought Police are looking for volunteers.
I get the attempted murder charge. What I don’t get is the charge of blackmail for the services he, or anyone like him, might provide. Sounds no different to me that “secret shoppers”, people who pretend they are customers at a retail outlet and then file reports to the retailer on the level of customer service their staff provided. Sounds like a great way to ensure your drivers are driving safely.
Again, I have no interest in defending Volpe. I find the criticism of the “trucker spy” service unfounded.
secret shoppers have to let the management know who thry are and what they are doing if im not mistaken ..
Oh I get it, the company did not hire him, he threatens to release the video unless they pony up.
I was thinking the company hired him to audit their drivers’ practices on the roads; I misunderstood.
That IS basically blackmail.
Company’s pay to have drivers followed. Called Intransit Surveillance. Check out
ASR International Corp. ASR performs a covert or non-covert surveillance of a vehicle on the road covering any customer specified distance. During the Intransit surveillance the ASR inspector will verify whether the driver or the vehicle violated any regulations of CFR 49.
This one sounds like an ad…
Secret shoppers are employed by the company. He was free lancer who would extort the company with the threat of posting his videos. This is not blackmail of the trucker, but of the company. He was a creep and fortunately crossed the line. Glad he was caught and hope he does not get parole. PS: I am not a truck driver yet, but hope to be one.
With his blackmail $$, he will probably buy his way out of prison time & still be allowed to drive & illegally carry a gun!
This clown had no interest in getting unsafe vehicles or drivers to comply with laws and regulations, he just wanted to blackmail companies, and couldn’t care less what they did after he got their money. Sweet dreams Lil Joey…..maybe you can talk trucks with Bubba !
I don’t defend shooting anyone, but some drivers tailgate too much. In this case maybe Mr. Johnston
could have backed off more quickly. If speed was reduced to 30 mph it sounds like Mr. Johnston continued tailgating. Sometimes I think drivers forget what it is like to be in a car with a truck inches away.
In the far left lane? With no traffic in front of him? Sorry, that dog won’t hunt.
Bookem dano. Lock his azz up
I’ve seen videos like this nut case made. What no one ever
mentioned about them was the way the guy broke driving laws
shooting these videos.
Dave, re-read the article. It says, “This placed him directly behind Volpe who began brake-checking, bringing his speed all the way down to 30 miles per hour.” No mention of traffic slowing, just the idiot in his car creating a traffic hazard. As far as tailgating, it’s not like we can stop as rapidly as a car can. I pull a single barrel hazardous material chemical tank. You would be amazed at how many idiots in their cars cut me off and hit their brakes, 45 feet of sloshing liquid doesn’t make it easy to stop. Also, customers want their products rather quickly, so it can get to you in a timely fashion. Which means, we DON’T HAVE TIME FOR WATERHEADS IN THEIR CARS, not appreciating what we do for them. 9 times out of 10, if a truck is tailgating, a car cut him off. Think and get your facts before typing your opinion on something you know absolutely nothing about. Good Day
Kris, as a fellow driver, I can say that your wrong. 9 times out of 10, the truck driver is bulling the 4 wheeler down the hammer lane.
I agree Tim! The majority of the crap I see day in and day out is Other trucks trying to bully cars out of the way so they can go 3 mph faster. The tailgating has just become ridiculous and I feel there should be increased penalties for it! Maybe if enough of these super truckers start losing(not loosing) their licenses, then maybe We can finally star getting some professionalism back into this industry
@Tim: a “Fellow driver” would know that Kris is more correct than you give him credit for.
Right on Kris! First time I have read comments on these articles. It is real easy to tell the none drivers or company people. Educate yourselves or get more experience on the road before speaking of things of which you know nothing about. People and companies like this should be all put out of business! We pay high taxes for people to police the roads, people that have extensive training, not some idiot messing with a camera while driving! (Distracted driving) Luckily the rather large company I am leased tells these people where to go when they call with a video, although they apparently did buy 1 but they just rip on it in class.
Hope somebody breaks him in right when he gets to the big house, unfortunately there are plenty of creeps trying to make a buck on the highway through different scams. Shame on the trucking companies who paid this fool for videos, because they indirectly encouraged him through their payments.
Just like the fools that buy radios in a truckstop for $25…. “still in the box”…. then wonder why they get broken into and their stuff gets stolen, only to be sold later.
You patronize a criminal, sooner or later you’re his next victim!
His mugshot….hilareous!!
Hell yea!
I see the police doing the same thing this guy does….drive around the nation’s highways with video cameras hoping to find truck drivers for good old fashioned blackmail, using the traffic ticket,and giving the trucker a record.Just because you put a police uniform on someone doesn’t make them honest. This guy went way to far using a gun to shoot the trucker. I agree with that.
Kris you must be asleep at the wheel I see trucks following less than a truck length off the tail end of another truck constantly.
Have you seen the price of fuel in the last decade? Its called drafting–gotta keep those expenses down. Lol
whats even more funny is in PA there’s a trucking company named Volpe I wonder if he’s related
Truck driving companies are usually an easy mark. Often it’s easier to pay off a fender bender type of accident than to end up in court where it could easily cost considerably more money. I can see where Volpe and his scam company were doing similar tricks. Usually when it comes down to a drivers word against Volpe and his scam company with a pre arranged attorney, the truck company quickly pays the Volpe rip off fees. It’s way to easy just to fire the driver and pay off. The truck driver is very much expendable. Always another rookie driver to take his place.
Since Volpe has resorted to firing a deadly weapon, justice will finally be served with this character. I should hope 20 years plus a day would be a good sentence for him.
He owns a company. Its good to know he’s where he needs to be, but does it mean he still has a company? Does this guy have employees? If so, someone needs to shut it down before other truckers get hurt.
Throw the key away, he is a menace and an arrogant sob. Someone that stupid to shoot into any vehicle has no need to apart of public society. He is lucky it wasn’t my rig, he would not be a burden to tax payers, an action I would call self defence!
God bless America. I knew that there were some strong bullying laws. This guy has been bullying the industry for yeArs. Finally, some justice. I hope that he has a nice time. Now they need to shut down his illegal extortionistic company.
there was a company down in Florida that my former company used for safety violations like this. One day he jack up on one of our tankers hauling a full load of 1203 .The driver almost hit him but he sped of like the John Cass he was . His report to the company was ,good driver . the driver had gotten hold of the company and told them what happened before the idiot made his report. they in turn told that company that their services would no longer be required.
Is this the guy from youtube that has a bunch of videos where he films big trucks on the road and gives commentary about what they are doing that is illegal? The guy in the video says “Start…Stop” every little while. I couldn’t figure out why but after thinking about it, I think he is measuring following distance. Anyway, what an asshat.
Place this sob on the interstate with truck’s in all lanes with the hammer down
Is the death penalty available…?
That guy got a friend of mine fired in chattanooga tennessee.
That’ll definately bring CSA out of the woodwork.
Thanks alot Volpe!
I am shocked at some of the responces from some of ya’ll. That man was obviously, as stated and if ou go a step further to Google, performing multiple illegal actions and “framing” drivers under false pretence, all for the sake of a dollar, and needs nothing but a good misfire short sighting in his cage with an unregistered weapon. Everything he did was a set-up and caused multiple accidents and firings and he’s just a POS period, and I must say I’m quite ashamed of some of these responces without any further investigation on ya’lls part. WAS proud to be an American…
HA-HA-HA–have always been a firm believer in what comes around goes around -hope you rot dirtbag -had it been me and you play games on the road and have to be a coward to use a gun –you can bet your ass (as long as no other vehicles were around)-you shoot at me–off into the woods you go –hope they throw the book at him and to expose the companies who used his services
His true criminal personality came to the fore and he was duly apprehended, thankfully before he killed or injured anyone.
Reminds me of the Zimmerman vs Trayvon Martin case in FL today.
My job has smart cam, gps speed reports, and co-workers READY to snitch over pissant stuff.
But in our headquarters in Chicago on Michigan Ave the bean counters know accidents* sux.
*certain individuals always require second and third chances.
one spun out twice off the road in two years.
but ‘they’ get a ‘pass’…
That guy needed to get a life….now hopefully he will get life….lol
This makes truck enthusiasts like me look bad whenever I hold a camera and stand at an overpass, thanks alot Volpe. I’m in this because of the trucks themselves, just getting to catch them and marvel at their power, looks, and just the fact that they’re trucks! It’s one thing to take pictures and video if a largecar or just the typical O/O truck comes up… but to go to extremes and sell them out? That’s not right. It’s good that justice is headed this guy’s way, that’s one of the worst ways to disrespect a truck driver, though I may not be one, I still feel for them when something like this happens.