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Elizabeth Man Sentenced in Railroad Vandalism
By Staff Reports
The Tube City Almanac
November 10, 2021
Posted in: Crime and Police News
An Elizabeth man has been sentenced to three years’ probation and $1,425.95 in restitution after pleading guilty to vandalizing railroad signals in Port Vue and Braddock.
William C. Brown IV, 28, was sentenced Nov. 4 by U.S. District Court Judge Donetta Ambrose in Pittsburgh on federal charges of terroristic attacks and violence against a railroad and a mass transportation carrier.
Prosecutors noted that the affected tracks carry both CSX freight trains as well as Amtrak passenger trains, and said the vandalism could have had “catastrophic consequences.”
Court documents indicate that Brown and an alleged accomplice were railroad buffs who had known each other since childhood, and were fascinated by trains — and train derailments.
Federal prosecutors alleged that in Nov. 2017, Brown and another man used bolt cutters to damage signal wires along the CSX Transportation tracks in Braddock, and unscrewed radio antennas from a signal shack.
Prosecutors said Brown and the other man also were accused of cutting wires that connected the signal system to CSX’s railroad tracks in Port Vue.
“The United States has a strong interest in sending a message to both this defendant and others who would engage in similar conduct that the safety of rail lines and other mass transportation systems must be taken very seriously,” wrote acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman and assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher M. Cook.
But in a court filing asking for leniency, Brown’s attorney, public defender Sarah Levin, said her client struggled with a learning disability and that he had a troubled childhood marked by bullying and difficulties in school and with peers.
Since the 2017 incident, Levin said, Brown has been employed and has become a responsible, active parent and is sole provider for his daughter.
Prosecutors withdrew charges against the other defendant, court records indicate.
The FBI and CSX Transportation police conducted the investigation that led to the indictment, said a spokeswoman for Kaufman.
Originally published November 10, 2021.
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