Seven out-of-staters were arrested Saturday on a charge of criminal trespass after Portage Police said that they were found riding the rails on an eastbound CSX freight train.

Charged with trespass were Monika Lynn Goyal, 21, of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada; Jolee Anne Miedema, 19, of Tacoma, Wash.; Brian Dean Mack, 29, of Las Vegas, Nev.; Steven Thomas Gookin, 20, of Petaluma, Calif.; William R. Jackson, 24, of Graham, Wash.; Cody L. Jackson, 22, of Puyallap, Wash.; and Daniel Matthew Reese, 19, of Davenport, Iowa, police said.

According to police, at 3:38 p.m. an officer was dispatched to the CSX right-of-way in the area of Willowcreek after the engineer had stopped his train when informed by dispatch that South Shore workers had seen a subject riding between the cars approximately 40 cars behind the engine.

The officer began walking the tracks westbound and in the area of Don’s Trailer Park at 5500 U.S. Highway 20 he made contact with the seven, “who all stated that they had boarded the train in Chicago and were headed to the East Coast,” police said.

“During the investigation, CSX had to be contacted and the initial train had to be moved and two other eastbound trains approaching our location had to be stopped,” the investigating officer stated in his report.

Goyal was also charged with possession of marijuana when a quantity was found in her bag and Miedema with possession of paraphernalia when a smoking device was found in hers, police said. Mack was wanted on a warrant issued through Franklin County, Ind., charging him with failure to appear, police said.

A pit bull traveling with one of the subjects was taken into custody by Portage Animal Control.

All seven were transported to Porter County Jail.

Posted 6/13/2011