Eduardo Moreno, 45,, a train engineer at the Port of Los Angeles pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge for running a locomotive at full speed off the end of railroad tracks near a United States Navy hospital ship that was deployed to provide medical relief during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 31, 2020, Moreno drove a train at high speed, did not slow down near the end of the railroad track, and intentionally derailed the train off the tracks near the United States Naval Ship Mercy – a hospital ship then docked in the Port of Los Angeles.

          No one got hurt and he did not harm or damage the Mercy.  But fire and other hazardous materials workers had to clean up the leaked fuel. Moreno's derailment caused  $700,000 in damages. 

Moreno first told the Los Angeles Port Police that he did it because he was suspicious of the Mercy and thought it had something to do with COVID-19 or a government takeover. He did it for media attention so “people could see [the Mercy] for themselves.” Moreno later told FBI agents that he did it to “‘wake people up'” because  he thought that the Mercy was “suspicious and did not believe ‘the ship is what they say it's for.'”