It was the route that goes from LA to New Mexico. My friend's group got on in NM.
Here is the news story from the angry father's perspective. It says the boys were 12 and 13. The boys, according to my friend, took an IPod and a Cell Phone and had them with them when the conductor made them empty their pockets. It was an 18 hour train ride and that seems like a long time to ride with out an adult present.
Taos father upset after his sons, friends removed from Amtrak
TAOS, N.M. -- Four children, ages 12 to 15, were removed from an Amtrak train in the dark, 600 miles from home, after accusations that one of them stole an iPod.
No charges were filed against any of the children, who spent the night at the Kingman, Ariz., police station after Amtrak put them off the train at 2 a.m. Saturday as they returned home from California. Police let the four stay in the conference room until a parent retrieved them.
Zackary Sharfin, 13, and his 12-year-old brother Christopher had traveled with family friends Carley Maestas, 15, and her 13-year-old brother Anthony to visit the Maestas' children's mother in Fresno.
The brothers' father, Peter Sharfin, said the problem likely started when Christopher lost his cell phone and Zackary began looking for it.
A Kingman police report also said Zackary was accused of stealing a cell phone and of touching a child.
Zackary said he was walking through the train, looking for his brother's phone, and bumped into a girl by accident. He also said he found the iPod in the train's game room and was trying to turn it in.
Peter Sharfin accused Amtrak of overreacting and abusing the children.
"I felt like it was child endangerment," he said. "These are children alone at night."
Sharfin said all four children have their own iPods and would not have been stealing.
Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said conductors have the right to remove passengers and that they always call police to pick them up at the next station.
Graham said the conductor removed the kids for disorderly conduct, although she did not have details.
"All I know is that it was disorderly conduct, and that could have been a variety of behaviors," Graham said. "It takes a lot for someone to be removed from a train."
Sharfin said the children didn't know where they were.
"They were hundreds of miles from home," he said. "It was dark. Their parents weren't there."
Graham said the children "weren't just put off in the middle of nowhere, mind you. They were put off in the custody of the police department."
Kingman police Sgt. Rusty Cooper said the children were never alone.
The conductor called the Mojave County sheriff because the alleged theft occurred near Needles, Calif. Sheriff's deputies could not get to the station, so Amtrak called city police, who waited at the closed station with the children for the deputies.
When they didn't show, officers took the four to the police station. Cooper said various officers took care of them there.
The Mojave County Sheriff's Department said there's no criminal case because when the train left the station, it took any complaining parties and witnesses with it.
Sharfin said Amtrak has called several times, but that he does not want to talk to them.
