Elizabeth man pleads guilty to sabotaging railroad signals in Braddock, McKeesport

An Elizabeth man pleaded guilty to sabotaging railroad signals at multiple locations in Allegheny County, federal prosecutors said Monday.

William Curry Brown, 26, admitted to removing and vandalizing equipment along CSX Transportation railroads in November 2017, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said.

Brown’s guilty plea acknowledged the acts resulted in “significant financial loss” and involved “recklessly endangering the safety” of the railroad, which carries both passenger and freight cars.

On Nov. 1, 2017, Brown detached four railroad antennas at a location in Braddock, then used a pair of bolt cutters to slash the cables inside a railroad signal bungalow. The act “caused a complete signal failure,” prosecutors said.

The next day, Brown used the same bolt cutters to sever signal wires attached to the rail line in McKeesport, prosecutors said.

Brown was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh in April 2018.

Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of of terroristic acts and violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation on land.

U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose scheduled Brown’s sentencing hearing for May 11. Federal sentencing guidelines allow for a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher M. Cook prosecuted the case with help from the FBI and CSX Transportation.