A Goldendale man has pleaded guilty to tampering with the brakes of train carrying hazardous materials. The train, which included about eight railcars carrying hazardous materials was moving from Pasco to California and successfully conducted 7 break checks before it stopped at Wishram.
After a 45-minute stop, the train left the Wishram train station and an alert indicated there was a fault in the braking system. Burlington Northern workers found that the levers that control the valve allowing air flow to air brakes for three cars had been turned the wrong way.
Security footage showed a Goldendale man, Forrest Ethan Wanous, approaching numerous railcars and walking between them. By the time Wanous was identified as a suspect and questioned, he was serving a 15 month sentence in the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, Wash., for felony DUI.
Wanous has at least eight prior convictions and claims he was drunk at the time and has no memory of his action. The man plead guilty, and according to court documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern Washington District has agreed to ask for five years probation rather than incarceration.