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Train robbed near Williams
One taken into custody

<br>Photo/Chad Hoctor<br>
Law enforcement officials apprehend a man following a train robbery March 26 near Interstate 40 in Williams.

<br>Photo/Chad Hoctor<br> Law enforcement officials apprehend a man following a train robbery March 26 near Interstate 40 in Williams.

WILLIAMS - Williams Police Department (WPD) officers, assisted by officers with the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, apprehended one man following a report of a train burglary in the Williams area on March 26. According to WPD Chief Herman Nixon, 40 large screen televisions were recovered from a site near Elephant Rocks Golf Course, after being removed from Burlington Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF) boxcars. Law enforcement officials observed four suspects in the area following reports of suspicious activity.

"We have been working with BNSF on some train burglaries," Nixon said. "The night prior (March 25) we had a report of a train stopping at an unusual area where they usually don't stop. There were some vehicles that fled the area. We felt that they were possibly casing the train to burglarize it. The next day (March 26) we got a call that a train had its brake lines cut. It stopped the train out at (Forest Service) Road 124 where the train tracks are near there. That's out past the golf course in the Country Club area."

Officers responded to the area and found 40 40-inch televisions, Nixon said.

"We had reports of an Expedition and a couple vans that were in the area. The officers began retrieving the property that was taken off the boxcars," Nixon said. "A Coconino County Sheriff's Deputy got in behind a Ford Expedition, which had been described to him. He attempted to stop him on Forest Road 124. The vehicle didn't yield for him. We actually got involved in the vehicle chase at about Country Club and Whispering Pines."

Following a short pursuit, the vehicle lost control and hit the embankment; four males were observed fleeing the vehicle across Interstate 40, according to police. Law enforcement officials observed one male, Baldomero Medina, 32, crawl into a nearby drainage ditch. He was taken in custody a short while later. The remaining three remain at large, as police were unable to locate them following a brief search in the nearby forest.

"The vehicles were towed by BNSF for further investigation, the TVs were recovered at that time, and Medina was booked by the Coconino County Sheriff's Office," Nixon said.


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