Prosecutors charged a locomotive engineer who worked at the Port of Los Angeles with intentionally derailing a train at full speed near the Navy hospital ship Mercy because of suspicions over its activities surrounding COVID-19, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro, California, was charged with one count under a little-known train-wrecking statute that carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in the incident Tuesday, according to the 10-page criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Moreno, who was held overnight, was turned over to FBI agents Wednesday morning. He was expected to make an initial appearance in federal court Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors claim Moreno ran the train off the tracks. It crashed through a series of barriers before coming to rest more than 250 yards from the Mercy in an incident that was captured on video.
Although the train leaked fuel oil, which required cleanup by firefighters and other hazardous materials personnel, no one was hurt.
A California Highway Patrol officer who witnessed the crash and took Moreno into custody told authorities that he saw the train, which is used to haul shipping cargo, smash through a barrier at the end of the tracks before it drove through several obstacles, including a steel barrier and a chain-link fence. It slid through one parking lot and another filled with gravel and smashed into a second chain-link fence, according to the affidavit.
The complaint alleges that when the officer approached him, Moreno said: "You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don't know what's going on here. Now they will."
The affidavit said Moreno, who waived his right to speak to an attorney before being interviewed by investigators, admitted in two post-arrest interviews that he intentionally ran the train off the track because he wanted to bring attention to the government's activities regarding COVID-19 and was suspicious of the Mercy.
In his first interview with Los Angeles port police, Moreno acknowledged that he "did it," saying he was suspicious of the Mercy and believed it had an alternative purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover, the affidavit states.
Moreno also told investigators that he acted alone and had not planned the attempted attack, according to the affidavit. He said he knew that derailing and crashing the train would bring media attention and that "people could see for themselves," referring to the Mercy, according to the affidavit.
In a second interview with FBI agents, Moreno said "he did it out of the desire to 'wake people up,'" according to the affidavit. "Moreno stated that he thought that the U.S.N.S. Mercy was suspicious and did not believe 'the ship is what they say it's for,'" it said.
Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter for NBC News. He covers the Western United States, specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.
Reader Comments
And does anyone know .....What exactly did he wake people up to??? That he could run into a fence with a train? lol. His allegations aren't making sense. If he wanted to wake people up; he should have said something that made sense.
All we know from this..... ...is he thinks Mercy is in on the virus.
Or re my So Cal life stories? I hope to provide more worthwhile info in the AB, and I'll let folks here know when (I hope) I publish it.
I've led a funny, crazy life. But if I tried to provide more, there's just too much. (Like first day on that job, how a stupid coworker was trying to get himself killed by a family of Samoans (3-4 sons and one father) and he's getting in their faces - abusing his authority - and it felt like being Spud Webb in an NFL huddle. They each had roofing hammers and the smallest son was >220 lbs and >6 feet, and the sons were getting pissed at my coworker.
I told the Samoans -"I'm sorry, I'm new here. I have no control on this guy, but I do apologize for his rudeness. Excuse me please.
Coworker (jerk) "Get back here!"
RC: You ain't my boss and you need to get some common sense!
We got him to go to the gym one time (he didn't lift weights) and he put up 370# on the incline bench press for 7 reps. I think he could fold a person up and put them in his pocket for safe keeping...