Jumped Aboard in Desert : 3 Marines Suspected in String of Train Robberies

In a throwback to the days of Jesse James, Southern Pacific Railroad detectives have nabbed three Marines suspected of leaping onto slow-moving freights in the California desert and looting them of television sets, radios and other goods.

One of the suspected train robbers, all of whom were stationed at the Marines Corps Air-Combat Training Center at Twentynine Palms, is believed to have inadvertently derailed a Southern Pacific train near Palm Springs on Aug. 23, causing $3.5 million in property damage and killing a man who was aboard, railroad officials said at a press conference Friday.

“They were out to make a little spending money and have a good time,” said Joe S. Harlan, special agent for the Southern Pacific Transportation Co.

After interrogating the suspects, railroad detectives believe that the train robbers included as many as nine people from the Marine base. The gang used a pickup truck instead of horses, walkie-talkies and flashlights instead of colored bandanas, and bolt-cutters instead of dynamite to board, enter and raid freight cars laden with electronic goods, authorities said.

Harlan estimated that the ring has robbed 20 trains since June and made off with $30,000 or more worth of goods, much of which was sold in an “underground market” in the Twentynine Palms area or to other Marines.

“Some stuff they didn’t use, like ladies shoes or large sweaters, they would give to the Salvation Army,” railroad special agent Steve Salinas said. “But they also had a storage space off the base in Twentynine Palms where they kept television sets, microwave ovens, coffee makers and other stuff.”

Salinas said the men typically targeted trains in the San Bernardino area without cabooses, which, they figured correctly, were unguarded in the rear and vulnerable. The gang would follow in a pickup truck until the train stopped or slowed down.

Jump From Pickup

With a driver following close behind in the pickup, others would jump aboard and break into freight cars near the end of the train, signaling back to the driver with blue-lens flashlights or walkie-talkies, he said. The robbers would wait until the train again slowed or stopped before transferring the stolen merchandise to the pickup.

The three men arrested on suspicion of burglary and possession of stolen property were identified Friday as Pfc. Sean Patrick Flynn, 18, of Spencer Falls, N.Y., Pfc. Robert Fulton Bryan III, 19, of Big Springs, Tex., and Pfc. Brian Andrew Banks, 19, of West Palm Beach, Fla. They were taken into custody last Saturday after a joint investigation by the railroad, the FBI and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Harlan said.

All three men have been released to the base, where they are learning to become radio technicians in the Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School, said Maj. Kerry Gershaneck, Marines Corps spokesman. So far no charges have been filed by the FBI, which has taken over the continuing investigation.

‘There Is No Hurry’

A source close to the investigation said, “They (the FBI) feel there is no hurry; these guys are not going anyplace.” He also said the case is so complex that it will take months to establish where and when the burglaries took place and what was taken.

The case was cracked during the early morning hours of Sept. 27 when two railroad detectives spotted three men in a pickup truck loaded with new tires and television sets traveling on Interstate 10 near Beaumont.

Railroad Detectives Salinas and R. B. Frye stopped the truck because its license number matched that supplied to the FBI in connection with an an earlier train robbery.

Frye and Salinas found that the goods in the back of the truck had been taken from a train earlier the same night near Loma Linda. What’s more, the men were following the same train, Salinas said, hoping that “it would stop so they could exchange black-and-white television sets they had taken for color.”

The three were arrested and held in civilian custody for 72 hours before being released to military authorities on condition that “they not be allowed to leave the base” pending completion of the investigation, Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Terry Burdo said.

Accidentally Derailed Car

Harlan told reporters at the press conference that Banks made statements to investigators that he alone accidentally derailed the Southern Pacific train near Palm Springs.

The accident derailed a 57-car freight train six miles east of Palm Springs. Killed in the crash was a man identified Friday as Fernando Garcia, 25, from Baldwin Park, who authorities believed had stowed away on the train. Thirty-three of the cars were destroyed.

Initially, the railroad believed that the wreck was due to a faulty coupler, but that theory was ruled out when evidence suggested that train mechanisms had been tampered with, Harlan said.

The railroad now believes that Banks sabotaged a brake mechanism, causing the train to stop. Then he uncoupled the 21st car in the train with the idea of robbing the remaining 36 cars when the front section sped off, Harlan said.

But the train separated on a slope and the rear section began to roll downhill, following the front section with increasing speed, Harlan said.

Banks jumped off and followed the runaway cars in his truck. He was a few minutes late to see the rear end of the train smash into the front section at a speed of 96 miles per hour, Harlan said.

He added that Banks would probably not face murder charges in connection with the killing of the man on the train because “this was not an intentional derailment.”