Fairfax man sentenced for involvement in Amtrak train wreck conspiracy

A Fairfax man was sentenced to 21 months in prison for his role in a train wreck conspiracy in which he and his co-defendant planned to bilk Amtrak of insurance money by pretending they were hit by a train.

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said 35-year-old Deon Dovell Roberts pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, cause of a train wreck and interfering with a train operator and to interfering with the operation of a train.

Roberts was sentenced to also serve three concurrent years of federal supervised release for each charge and to pay $46,690 to Amtrak.

Evidence presented during an earlier guilty plea hearing revealed that during the early morning hours of Sept. 6, 2013, Roberts and his co-defendant James Duvall Love parked a car in the path of an oncoming Amtrak passenger train, located at Bakers Mill Crossing in Allendale.

After the train collided with the vehicle, both Roberts and Love returned to their car and feigned injury, all for the purpose of submitting bogus claims for personal injuries and other losses.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Amtrak Office of Inspector General, ATF, the Fairfax Police Department and the Allendale County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S Attorneys Eric Klumb and Stacey Haynes prosecuted the case.