(Boone Today posted the following article on its website on April 9.)
BOONE, Iowa — A complaint late Thursday afternoon by a railroad employee who saw trespassers near the Kate Shelley High Bridge led to the arrest of two people law officers say attempted to derail a train.
Charged with railroad vandalism and trespassing were Heath B. Delzell, 20, of Ames, and Nathan W. Delzell, 23, of Indianola. The railroad vandalism charge is a Class C felony and the trespassing charge is a simple misdemeanor.
Friday, both were in the Boone County Jail waiting to see a judge.
“We asked them what they were thinking when they did this,” Boone County Sheriff Ron Fehr said. “Their reply was ‘We wanted to see what it would do.'”
He downplays the incident as a terrorism attack. Both are U.S. citizens, he said.
The incident was reported about 4:45 p.m. after the Boone County Sheriff’s Department received word from Union Pacific that there were trespassers near the Kate Shelley High Bridge, one of the world’s tallest highest double track bridges. The historical bridge was built in 1901 and had undergone an extensive steel strengthening project last spring.
After deputies arrived near the bridge site, they met with a railroad employee who had detained the two individuals as they were leaving the area. Deputies and railroad personnel had found metal bars placed on the railroad tracks in at least four areas, up to 500 feet apart, east of the railroad bridge. None of the metal bars was found on the bridge. Railroad employees informed the law officers that the metal objects near the proximity of the high bridge could have derailed a train, causing considerable damage.
Fehr said the increased security around the bridge was removed by Union Pacific the day before the incident.
The Delzells claimed to be engineering students at Iowa State University, Fehr said. In the ISU directory, Nathan Delzell is as a senior in mechanical engineering. Heath Delzell is listed in the director as a freshman in mechanical engineering.Fehr said the FBI was alerted about the incident. Fingerprints of the Delzells have been sent to the FBI.
In previous weeks, the sheriff’s office has reported trespassers in the area of the Kate Shelley High Bridge a few miles west of Boone, the most recent being an all-terrain vehicle. Earlier this year, it was reported that someone had placed a refrigerator on the railroad tracks in the Boone area.
All trains were stopped in the area for about an hour while law enforcement and Union Pacific railroad personnel walked up and down the tracks to find the metal objects.
Fehr said the delay in rail transportation, because of the intentional placing or dropping of objects onto the railroad tracks, had cost the railroad company up to $10,000.