Woman suing over Empire Builder rape case

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lthanlon

OBS Chief
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Messages
653
Location
Chicago, USA
From Great Falls Tribune — "A North Carolina woman is suing Amtrak after she was violently raped on the passenger train by an employee as it passed by Wolf Point in 2015, alleging the carrier had the responsibility to protect her from employees such as her assailant, who had a long and 'egregious disciplinary record.'" Read full story.
 
“boarded the Empire Builder train in Washington, D.C. headed west. “

Great reporting again by the media.

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“boarded the Empire Builder train in Washington, D.C. headed west. “

Great reporting again by the media.
Could have been worse. At least the reporter didn't have the conductor "driving the train."
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This incident will cost Amtrak "heap big wampum" - and it should!

By now, Amtrak knows, or at least should, that they must be extra vigilant in the hiring process, and that the background check complete before one is ever hired - especially for public contact work. Even the Union, the ASWC, had to know this guy was "trouble", but they knew that if they did not defend him through all levels of the discipline and appeals process under the Agreement and the Railway Labor Act, he would turn around and seek damages under the "failure to represent" provisions of the Landrum-Griffin Act.

But who are the real losers - the vast majority of Amtrak employees who do their jobs courteously and efficiently - and all the time putting up with "crap" too voluminous to discuss here.
 
Union or no Union,why isnt this cretin in Jail? And where were the other Crew Members and other passengers on the train during this attack?
The article says that he was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

https://app.mt.gov/conweb/Offender/3020134/636474053603598076/11918cf583a208100522fdfac6b2675fd8352559

DOC ID# 3020134

NAME: Charles Henry Pinner

CURRENT STATUS: INMATE

LAST STATUS CHANGE: Tuesday, August 15, 2017

GENDER: Male

INFORMATION CURRENT AS OF: Monday, November 27, 2017

PRISON:

CROSSROADS CORRECTIONAL CENTER

50 Crossroads Drive

SHELBY, MT 59474

(406) 434-7055
 
Its shocking that this could happen. It is possible. Assume the guy got in there and closed and locked the door and the bed was down. If he prevents or scares her into silence then it's possible.

Don't know how full that car was. The crew would have to be passing through at exactly the right time. This guy definitely monitored husband surroundings.

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Union or no Union,why isnt this cretin in Jail? And where were the other Crew Members and other passengers on the train during this attack?
Um, he is. Did you read the article?
Sorry,couldn't get the Link to open! Hope this Turd doesn't ever see the Sun again, and the Woman receives a Nice Check and received a Sincere Apogy from Amtrak.
 
Its shocking that this could happen. It is possible. Assume the guy got in there and closed and locked the door and the bed was down. If he prevents or scares her into silence then it's possible.

Don't know how full that car was. The crew would have to be passing through at exactly the right time. This guy definitely monitored husband surroundings.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Not sure what exactly you meant by the bolded part, but if you mean as to whether her husband was nearby, no, she was traveling with her sisters. Though I did not read the whole article, I presume her husband (if she had one and he's alive) was not traveling with her.
 
Its shocking that this could happen. It is possible. Assume the guy got in there and closed and locked the door and the bed was down. If he prevents or scares her into silence then it's possible.

Don't know how full that car was. The crew would have to be passing through at exactly the right time. This guy definitely monitored husband surroundings.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Not sure what exactly you meant by the bolded part, but if you mean as to whether her husband was nearby, no, she was traveling with her sisters. Though I did not read the whole article, I presume her husband (if she had one and he's alive) was not traveling with her.
Looks to be autocorrect coming up with something unintended. If I were to guess it would have been "definitely monitored his immediate surroundings".
 
Does anyone else feel like this is just the ultimate extreme of what we all constantly complain about? There seems to be no accountability at Amtrak. Employees are in a culture where they don't feel like they have to follow any rules, nor is there any direct supervisor on board.

I also really dislike the fact that Amtrak is saying "it's not our fault" instead of saying "we are currently conducting complete background checks on all employees, along with retraining staff to make sure nothing like this ever happens again"
 
There IS a supervisor on board! He or she is called the Conductor!

Or do you mean someone who watches over you all the time?
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When I worked for the IRS in Arizona, my Supervisor was in Phoenix - 260 miles away. Then due to a realignment of districts, my Supervisor was in Las Vegas - 125 miles away. My Supervisor did not look over my shoulder every day, but I did have to report to her.
 
There IS a supervisor on board! He or she is called the Conductor!

Or do you mean someone who watches over you all the time?
default_huh.png
When I worked for the IRS in Arizona, my Supervisor was in Phoenix - 260 miles away. Then due to a realignment of districts, my Supervisor was in Las Vegas - 125 miles away. My Supervisor did not look over my shoulder every day, but I did have to report to her.
The last I hear the LSA was the manager of OBS correct?

So in the IRS office there was no office manager? seems odd.
 
Its shocking that this could happen. It is possible. Assume the guy got in there and closed and locked the door and the bed was down. If he prevents or scares her into silence then it's possible.

Don't know how full that car was. The crew would have to be passing through at exactly the right time. This guy definitely monitored husband surroundings.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Not sure what exactly you meant by the bolded part, but if you mean as to whether her husband was nearby, no, she was traveling with her sisters. Though I did not read the whole article, I presume her husband (if she had one and he's alive) was not traveling with her.
Looks to be autocorrect coming up with something unintended. If I were to guess it would have been "definitely monitored his immediate surroundings".
Yes you correctly interpreted my intent. I need to proofread better.

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I wonder how many of fun us have had this creep for an sca. And how many times was he reported for other stuff besides the charges already mentioned.

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Again, to read the article the perp was hired as a "chef". However he would have free access through (Seattle) sleeper territory to get to the trans dorm. The ones who screwed up seem to be the Railway Labor Board, for which they will be rewarded with full taxpayer funded retirement!
 
I think he was rehired as a sleeper attendant. I read multiple articles on it so I'm not sure which article it was in.
 
According to the article Amtrak did take complaints seriously and fired this employee in the past. But thanks to special protections afforded to union members and railway employees they were later forced to rehire him again.

There IS a supervisor on board! He or she is called the Conductor!
In all my years of riding on Amtrak I've never once seen an on-duty conductor actively counter or correct the actions of a sleeper/coach attendant or dining crew. Nor does Amtrak ever bother to explain to their customers how their structure of escalation and accountability is supposed to work. Even if you call Amtrak while on the train they cannot seem to do anything to resolve a dispute while you're still aboard. So far as I can tell Amtrak offers no practical method for immediate conflict resolution other than kicking the customer off the train.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There IS a supervisor on board! He or she is called the Conductor!

Or do you mean someone who watches over you all the time?
default_huh.png
When I worked for the IRS in Arizona, my Supervisor was in Phoenix - 260 miles away. Then due to a realignment of districts, my Supervisor was in Las Vegas - 125 miles away. My Supervisor did not look over my shoulder every day, but I did have to report to her.
The last I hear the LSA was the manager of OBS correct?
So in the IRS office there was no office manager? seems odd.
So you yourself admit there WAS a Supervisor on board! And yes, the LSA is the Supervisor of OBS, and while onboard the Conductor is the Supervisor of the LSA.
My IRS office was a satellite office. It consisted of 1 Tax Auditor (myself), 2 Revenue Agents And 2 Revenue Officers.
 
Its shocking that this could happen. It is possible. Assume the guy got in there and closed and locked the door and the bed was down. If he prevents or scares her into silence then it's possible.

Don't know how full that car was. The crew would have to be passing through at exactly the right time.
Considering the EB passes through Wolf Point at 11:41 a.m. (if running on time), it's possible most people were at lunch or in the lounge car.

That said, think about how noisy the train gets at times. If he had a pillow or his hand over her mouth, no one would have heard her, even if the car had been full. Even if she'd kicked the door or wall, people would just attribute it to the random banging you hear when going over switches or when car attendants move berths around. Add to that, people in their rooms generally wear headphones.

At 11:41, if I'm not at lunch, I'm in my room with the curtain and/or door closed and my headphones on. I wouldn't have heard a thing.
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That poor lady. The report of her injuries is just awful. I cannot even begin to imagine what she is going through.
 
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