A pair of area teens have been indicted in connection with causing railroad traffic to be stopped for about two hours.
Norwalk resident Zachary S. Gilbert, 19, of 967 1/2 Ohio 61, and Spencer B. Griffin, 18, of Huron, will be arraigned Oct. 25 in Erie County Common Pleas Court. They were indicted this month by an Erie County grand jury in connection with an incident just after 4 a.m. Aug. 26 investigated by the Huron Police Department.
"They were alleged to have been throwing brick-like items or rocks at ... a passing train," Erie County Assistant Prosecutor Ashley Thomas said.
"There was a call into police," she said. "A train was struck. A window was broken. ... It caused traffic to be stopped for about two hours."
The window cost $2,015 to be replaced.
"According to the bill, it's heated and they had to replace the frame, too," Chief Bob Lippert said.
The suspected throwing incident happened on Williams Street. The train stopped about 1 mile away on River Road.
Lippert was asked how Gilbert and Griffin were identified as the suspects. The chief said the responding officers used a spotlight and saw three people at the railroad tracks who fled the scene. Lippert said after officers found Gilbert, police used surveillance footage from a 24-hour gas station to identify Griffin and a 17-year-old Huron boy.
"They found Gilbert hiding under a tree," Lippert said.
Gilbert and Griffin are charged with two counts each of complicity to commit railroad vandalism and one charge each of complicity to commit disrupting a public service. Each fourth-degree felony is punishable by six to 18 months behind bars and a maximum fine of $5,000.
The boy was convicted through Erie County Juvenile Court.
After the suspected incident, Gilbert and Griffin were arrested and transported to the Erie County Jail.
Gilbert was behind bars from Aug. 26 until Aug. 31, when he was released on a personal recognizance bond and turned over to the Huron County Sheriff's Office. He served a 10-day sentence at the Huron County Jail for an underage consumption conviction, according to jail records.
Griffin spent three days in the Erie County Jail and was released on a personal recognizance bond Aug. 28.
Comments
After reading yesterdays Reflector article on Theodis Keys murdering his girlfriend and being booked in the Erie Co jail and now this article it has become quite obvious that the 1st thing the Erie jail does is chop off your ears.
@Hankster, Are they now using a "funhouse mirror" camera lense for their pictures?
More aliens ...
HaHa too funny Hankster but it does look that way!
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Why is the Norwalk Reflector posting a story that happened back on Aug. 26th? Don't you have anything else better to publish online? I am so sick and tired of reading about all the people in the police reports and heroin convictions in Huron Co. Where is the local news? The good stories? Encourage people to go online and read the paper and feel good about yourself when you're done. Not completely depressed because you feel like everyone in your community is going down the drain. PLEASE layoff all the negatives in this town and try to focus on the positives for a change. I don't even let my kids look at the paper online anymore because it's depressing!!!! It's time to step it up.
Can't these morons find anything better to do than destroy other people's property? Oh, I've got a thought, and I'll spell it very slowly so they can understand..... J O B! Grow up for goodness sake!
Need to make more jobs out there so peoples like hillbilly here can stay out of trubble.
LOL.