NEWARK, NJ (AP) – A longtime Amtrak employee in New Jersey stole several dozen chainsaws and hundreds of railroad parts and sold them online, according to a federal criminal complaint released on Tuesday.
José Rodriguez sold the items for more than $ 50,000 between 2016 and July 2020, according to the complaint. Brick resident, 48, has worked at Amtrak’s North Brunswick facility since 2007 in positions that include senior engineer and repairman.
Rodriguez was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon. A message was left with Amtrak and a lawyer for Rodriguez seeking comment.
Sales were made mainly through an online auction site, although some of the saws were sold directly to people, the complaint claimed. A buyer in Pennsylvania provided law enforcement officers with 11 boxes with Rodriguez’s return address that had been used to dispatch chainsaws in exchange for more than $ 7,000.
Altogether, Rodriguez sold 77 chainsaws, 103 chainsaw replacement bars and 163 replacement chains to buyers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, California and South Carolina, according to the complaint.
He faces a charge of theft of government property and a charge of theft from an agency that receives federal funds. Both charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.