[Accrs] Utah man accused of stealing former D&RGW branch

[Alameda County Central Railroad Society]

George Withers, Tifco Ind.
4180 Jensen St.
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 846-5550






  
Home
  
/
  
News
  
/
  
News Wire
  
/
  
Utah   businessman accused of stealing former D&RGW branch


Utah businessman accused of stealing former D&RGW branch
By Justin Franz | September 12, 2016
RELATED TOPICS: GENERAL NEWS | INFRASTRUCTURE | WEST | CLASS 1 FREIGHT RAILROADS | UNION PACIFIC




SALT LAKE CITY – Train robberies were a common occurrence in the Old West but rarely did Jesse James and Butch Cassidy ride off with anything more than the payroll and valuables. But prosecutors in Utah are saying a local businessman has tried to make off with the rail line itself.

Utah County businessman Alan Dean McKee was charged with felony communications fraud and theft after he allegedly tried to sell pieces of a Union Pacific rail line in Elberta, about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City. 

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, earlier this year a UP special agent discovered a work crew tearing up track on the railroad’s former Denver & Rio Grande Western Tintic Branch. The workers told the officer that McKee had hired them to remove the track. McKee was apparently trying to sell the materials for scrap.

The railroad estimates McKee caused between $180,000 and $240,000 in damage, the newspaper reports. 

McKee allegedly tried to sell the rails while he was out on bail pending trial on another set of fraud charges. In that case, McKee and another man impersonated LDS Church officials in an attempt to get people to join a new business venture. 

McKee made an initial appearance in a Utah Court last month. During that hearing, the judge declared that McKee would be held without bail because “he must be incarcerated to avoid causing the public further financial harm.”

Union Pacific has not responded to Trains News Wire’s requests for comment.










-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mail.accrs.org/archives/accrs/attachments/20160920/dbe0dfba/attachment.html>