Cops: Train Thief Stole Bus, Wants to Steal Plane

NYC man has been arrested 29 times
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 12, 2015 1:00 AM CST
Cops: Train Thief Stole Bus, Wants to Steal Plane
A greyhound adorns the radiator of a bus in Jacksonville, Fla.   (AP Photo/Florida Times-Union, Bruce Lipsky)

Notorious train thief Darius McCollum has returned to a life of crime, and few modes of transport are safe, police say. The 50-year-old was arrested on Wednesday behind the wheel of a stolen Greyhound bus in Brooklyn, NBC New York reports. The bus, which was apparently stolen from a Port Authority depot in Manhattan, was tracked using GPS. A source tells NBC that McCollum, who promised to get help under a 2013 plea deal for another bus theft, told police his next step would be to steal a plane.

The AP reports that McCollum—who grew up near an NYC subway station, where workers helped him learn a lot about the transit system—has been arrested at least 29 times, starting when he was 15 years old and drove a subway train for six stops. NBC notes that McCollum's lawyer says none of his crimes have involved violence, and his client simply drives bus and train routes or does things like collect tolls until people realize he's an impostor. (A company that falsely accused a cleaning lady of stealing a train made up for its mistake by training her as a train driver.)

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