Received the following via email. It looks like a newspaper article dated 2/25/08, but the email did not cite the newspaper.
Manchester police charge man with trying to take railroad lines for scrap metal
February 25, 2008
By MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
Police arrested a 49-year-old Lawrenceville man on charges that he tried to scam a subcontractor into pulling up six miles of railroad lines between Manchester and Stafford to be cashed in for scrap metal. The work had just begun when the plan was foiled by an alert truck driver at the Clayton Sand Company, which owns the tracks, police said.
John Stonaker, 49, of Shelmet Lane, Lawrenceville, was charged on Feb. 20 with attempted theft of six miles of railroad track stretching from County Route 539 in Manchester to Route 72 in Stafford, said Capt. Brian Klimakowski. The U.S. Marshal's Service aided in bringing the charges.
Stonaker produced a phony work order to have a subcontractor remove the railroad tracks, which were to be sold for scrap metal, Klimakowski said.
Stonaker's plan was to split the proceeds of the scrap metal retrieved from the railroad track, which was valued between $250,000 and $300,000, police said.
The contractor was not aware that the work order from Conrail, which was presented to start the job, was forged, police said.
He was released on $75,000 bail the day he was arrested.
Manchester police are asking businesses or individuals that may have dealt with Stonaker in the past to call Detetctive Joseph Hankins at (732) 657-2009 ext. 2111.