PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said that an Amtrak employee admitted to procuring hundreds of chainsaws and parts, then selling them for his own profit.
Federal officials in Newark said Jose Rodriguez, 49 from Brick, New Jersey in Ocean County, pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of mail fraud.
Rodriguez, who started at Amtrak in 2007, took in 114 chainsaws and 344 replacement parts from Amtrak for company purposes, according to the case documents. In total, they were worth more than $76,000.
Related
Authorities said he then sold the equipment to buyers across America, using the U.S. Postal Service to send many of the items.
Rodriguez faces a sentence of up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in April.
