(The following article by Mark Puente was posted on the Cleveland Plain Dealer website on August 19.)
ELYRIA, Ohio — A man removed Wednesday from an Amtrak train for unruly behavior turned out to be carrying gold, thousands of dollars in cash and identification cards from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
He refused, however, to tell Elyria police his real identity.
Amtrak conductors on the Lakeshore Limited, en route from New York City to Chicago, notified Elyria police that a passenger needed to be removed after he exposed himself and rummaged through passengers’ bags. The train stopped at the Elyria station about 5 a.m.
Police told the man they wanted to run his name through a national law enforcement database.
He refused to answer questions and requested a lawyer, Elyria police reports said.
Police searched his bags and discovered two Canadian passports, birth certificates and Social Security cards with different names. He also possessed a Mexican identification card and medical records with different identities.
The documents identified him as a resident of both California and Ontario, with different names, police reports said.
Police confiscated $1,900 in U.S. dollars, $5,900 in Canadian currency and a 5-ounce gold bar.
Police conducted a fingerprint check with Canadian authorities and believe that the man is Donald Thomas Sloan of Canada, said Sgt. Mike Behney.
Behney said the man will be held until federal authorities complete an investigation.
Amtrak passengers must produce identification that matches a ticket once on the train, said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman. He said it is common to remove people from trains for disruptive behavior.
Magliari said Amtrak also conducts random checks on travelers’ identification based on the last digit of ticket serial numbers.