Videos show freight train cargo thefts in Southern California; two men face charges in Amboy case

Videos posted on Aug. 21 and Sept. 12 appear to show people throwing packages from a stopped freight train onto the ground and loading them into vehicles in Southern California, with one clip filmed from aboard a moving train beside stacks of cargo, amid a series of cargo thefts along the region's railroad corridors. In one case, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department arrested two men after a Sept. 4 burglary near Amboy in which investigators reported an organized crew using 15 to 20 vehicles took approximately $50,000 worth of cargo.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said the incident began on Sept. 4 at approximately 9:45 p.m., when BNSF Railway investigators alerted deputies at the Morongo Basin Station to a large-scale burglary in progress. Investigators reported that a crew using 15 to 20 vehicles, including several white box trucks, had breached freight containers near Amboy, and that the thieves made off with approximately $50,000 worth of cargo, consisting primarily of Ariat brand boots and DeWalt construction power tools, according to authorities. Deputies arrested Eddiel Burgos, 30, and Pastor Pena Lerma, 43, who were booked into the Morongo Basin Jail on charges of commercial burglary and grand theft of cargo valued over $950, after an off-duty officer observed a white box truck on the Twentynine Palms Highway near Cholla Avenue in Yucca Valley matching the details of a train heist in Amboy.

In a similar robbery last month, suspects opened fire on officers with the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway just before 6:30 p.m. as a San Bernardino County train traveled through Cajon Pass between the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, about 20 miles northwest of San Bernardino, in what appeared to be an effort to rob the train.

The exact locations of the two videos are not clear, but railroad corridors in Southern California, especially those passing through San Bernardino County, have recently become prime targets, according to the source.

• The source does not state the date of the arrests in Yucca Valley, describing them only as earlier in September.
• The source does not state the exact locations shown in the two videos or whether those videos are connected to the Amboy case, the Sept. 4 burglary, or any other specific incident.
• The source does not state whether Eddiel Burgos or Pastor Pena Lerma have entered pleas, appeared in court, or responded to the charges, and states no response on their behalf.
• The source does not state whether anyone was injured or arrested in the August shooting on the train in Cajon Pass.
• The source does not state whether BNSF Railway or any other railroad or law enforcement agency has commented on the frequency of cargo thefts along the Southern California rail corridors.
• The source does not state the current custody status of the two men or whether investigators are seeking additional suspects.

1. New York Post — original

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