Ohio Man Gets 8 Years For Stealing CSX Steel

OAKLAND, Md. (AP) -- An Ohio man is serving an eight-year prison term for stealing tons of railroad steel from a CSX Corp. storage site in western Maryland.

The Garrett County State's Attorney's Office says Robert Cook, 37, of Glouster, Ohio, was sentenced Monday in Oakland.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Cook in October 2009 after witnesses said they saw him loading steel plates into his vehicle. They say he sold more than 60 tons of railroad steel to salvage yards from July through October 2009.

Cook took an Alford plea last July to one of 48 counts of theft.

In an Alford plea, a defendant doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges the state has enough evidence for a conviction.

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