Marine Sentenced for Derailment, Fatality in Attempt to Loot Train

A 19-year-old Marine with a lifelong fascination for trains was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles federal court to six years in prison for wrecking a Southern Pacific freight that derailed near Palm Springs last year, killing a man who had apparently hopped a ride.

U.S. District Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. noted in sentencing Pfc. Brian Andrew Banks that the case was a “sad one,” and that Banks “obviously has some psychological problems.”

But, despite that, Byrne said, Banks should be punished.

The judge also sentenced Banks, from West Palm Beach, Fla., to 10 years in prison on one count of theft of goods in interstate commerce, then suspended the sentence, while imposing five years’ probation and ordering him to make restitution of $10,000.

“I understand what I did was wrong,” Banks said. “I am responsible although I didn’t mean harm to anyone, and I’m sorry for what I did.”

Under terms of a plea bargain, Banks admitted that he was part of a nine-member group of enlisted men from the Marine Corps Air-Combat Training Center at Twentynine Palms who looted slow-moving freights of television sets, radios and other items over a four-month period last summer.

Deputy Federal Public Defender Carl Douglas sought to lighten his client’s sentence with the results of a psychiatric report that concluded that Banks had a “long-standing and intense” fixation on trains.

“For him, I think the attraction was for the train itself, not what was inside the train,” Douglas said.

Banks was accused in a federal grand jury indictment of uncoupling the 21st car of a Chicago-bound freight Aug. 22, apparently with the idea of looting the remaining cars when the front section sped away.

But the train was on a downward grade, and the rear cars rolled forward, reaching a speed of 96 m.p.h. and smashing into the front section six miles east of Palm Springs. Fernando Miguel Garcia, 25, of Baldwin Park, who authorities said apparently had boarded the freight earlier, was found dead in the wreckage. Banks leaped to safety.

Thirty three freight cars were destroyed, and damage was estimated at $3.5 million.

Byrne said he doubted that the youthful serviceman had intended to wreck the train or kill Garcia, but he said Banks “undertook a very active role as a thief.”

Eight other Marines who joined Banks in a series of train raids over a period of months pleaded guilty in October and were given one-year suspended sentences and fined $1,000 each for stealing from interstate shipments.

They included Pfc. Scott Michael Billings, 19, of Scarborough, Me.; Pfc. Daniel Wade Clements, 19, of Euless, Tex.; Lance Cpl. Andrew Wayne Breau, 19, Frye, Me., and Pfc. Shawn Patrick Flynn, 18, Henrietta, N.Y.

Also pleading guilty to the same charge and sentenced were Lance Cpl. Regan Lopez Taylor, 19, of Disputanta, Va.; Pfc. Todd Armand Galeto, 19, Babylon, N.Y.; Pfc. Jose Cruz Noyola Jr., 19, Moses Lake, Wash., and Pfc. Charles Fulton Bryan III, 19, Merced, Calif.