PPB: Man on Amtrak train carrying gun, $10,000, fake ID

Published 12:00 am Monday, January 28, 2019

A Georgia man traveling the tracks through Portland made an unexpected stop — behind bars — after police claim to have turned up bundles of cash, a fake ID and a gun in his luggage.

Stone Mountain resident Paul Donovan Wright was booked for money laundering, being a felon in possession of a firearm and identity theft after being arrested at Union Station around 10:10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24.

Prosecutors have dropped the money laundering charge, however, according to court records.

Wright, 27, was traveling to Sacramento, California from Milwaukee, Wisconsin when he was stopped by K9 Rex and PPB Officer Devlin, who says he asked for Wright’s consent to have the bagged sniffed.

“The defendant initially said he didn’t have anything illegal and a search wouldn’t be necessary,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

Nevertheless, Rex allegedly “alerted” on the bag.

Wright allegedly handed the officer a Virginia driver’s license with the name Sean Brown on it, but officers checked and determined the ID was “fictitious.”

Police claim they obtained permission to search the bag, and say they found about $9,500 in cash and a Glock 27 .40 caliber with nine bullets. Wright’s real ID was found inside his wallet, police say.

Wright was convicted of felony possesssion of drugs in Tennessee in 2016, according to court records. He has no other recent criminal convictions.

Wright remains behind bars at Inverness Jail at the time of this report.