Meth addict with pipe bombs steals $540,000 in Amtrak vouchers, feds say

A Michigan man who officials say stole $540,000 worth of Amtrak vouchers to resell on eBay was indicted on Monday, according to court documents.

At the end of January, federal officials raided the Milan, Michigan, home of Christian Newby, 31, and found a cornucopia of illegal paraphernalia, WXYZ reported.

Newby — who officials say was addicted to meth — had in his possession “two loaded assault style rifles, 11 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), two pipe bombs and illegal narcotics,” the TV station reported. Officials say MDMA, methamphetamine, empty pill capsules and a number of other narcotics were also on the property.

More than $208,000 in cash along with two Rolex watches and a number of gold and silver coins were also found, officials said, according to WJBK.

Officials say Newby was arrested and charged with running an elaborate internet scheme in which he used information from more than 1,100 stolen credit cards to purchase and cancel Amtrak tickets, selling the vouchers at a cheaper price on eBay, WDIV reported. Court documents say he ran his scheme from March 2018 to January 2019.

Newby’s vouchers were made-to-order — court documents say he would usually wait until someone had purchased one of his vouchers on eBay; then he used a stolen card to buy an Amtrak ticket, cancel it, then pass the voucher on to his client, WJBK reported.

According to charging documents, Newby has been charged with wire fraud, identity theft and unlawful transport of firearms.

This story was originally published July 16, 2019 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Meth addict with pipe bombs steals $540,000 in Amtrak vouchers, feds say."