Chicago suspect in train theft pleads guilty on trial date

CHICAGO – The sole suspect in a 2015 theft of guns off a Chicago train who chose to go to trial has changed his mind and pleaded guilty just as jury selection was to start.

A federal judge was to begin the trial Monday but accepted Dandre Moody’s guilty pleas instead, sending would-be jurors home.

Moody and seven others were arrested for stealing some 100 new guns from a Norfolk Southern yard. Several accomplices were scheduled to testify against Moody.

Judge John Tharp told Moody he’d be “beyond the point of no return” by pleading guilty and couldn’t again change his mind. Moody said he understood and went on to plead guilty to cargo theft and other charges. He’ll be sentenced March 27.

Tharp has said such thefts contributed to “an epidemic” of violence.