Man who stopped Amtrak train enters guilty plea

Posted By: Bayley Bischof Channel 8 Eyewitness News
A Missouri man could face life in prison after stopping an Amtrak train.
26-year-old Taylor Wilson pleaded guilty to the crimes in federal court Thursday morning.
It happened on October 23 last year. Wilson was on board an Amtrak train passing through Oxford Nebraska, that’s southwest of Kearney.
He broke into a secured area of the train, disabled it and then turned off the lights, said Lesley Woods, Assistant Attorney for the U.S. said.
Woods said there were more than 150 passengers on board. They panicked, and some tried to escape through the windows.
Woods said Wilson had a mask, hammer, knife, ammunition, National Socialist Movement business card with him on the train, as well as a loaded .38 caliber handgun that was in his waistband at the time of the incident.
He didn’t discharge the weapon, but Woods said he reached for it during a struggle with train engineers.
When the judge asked why he stopped the train Wilson said he was high.
Woods said he later revealed he had taken LSD.
A search warrant at Wilson’s home in Missouri turned up 16 guns, ammunition, body armor, including a homemade shield with a swastika on it and white supremacist writings, Woods said.
Woods said Wilson also had documents saying he was going to join ISIS and had bought a plane ticket to Syria that he never used.
Wilson denied that.
In addition to the charges Wilson faces here, he also pleaded guilty to a weapons charge out of Missouri.
That’s for having an unregistered rifle.
While he could face life in prison, Wilson’s attorney said he’s going to recommend a sentence of nine to eleven years because Wilson doesn’t have an extensive criminal history.
He’ll be back in court for sentencing on October 5.
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Taylor Wilson, who stopped an Amtrak train last October, plead guilty to two crimes in federal court Thursday morning.
He faces charges for possession of an unregistered weapon out of Missouri and attempting to derail, wreck or disable a mass transportation vehicle in Nebraska.
Wilson was arrested in Nebraska after stopping an Amtrak train on Oct. 23, 2017. While on board he went into a secured engine compartment and disabled train and turned off lights. There were more than 150 passengers on board, according to court documents.
The documents said he was armed with a handgun at the time.
The crime could come with a life sentence. His attorney, Jerry Sena, said he’s recommending a sentence of 9-11 years in prison, based on Wilson’s lack of a criminal history.
Wilson will appear in court for sentencing on Oct. 5, 2018.