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MTA Tries To Prevent Transit Impostor With Asperger's From Profiting Off Movie Deal

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A career criminal could make out like a bandit, but there is a push underway to prevent him from collecting so much as a penny.

Darius McCollum has grabbed headlines for stealing buses and trains, and Hollywood has come knocking.

Bust as CBS2's Emily Smith reported, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is trying to keep the man with a long history of transit-related crimes from profiting by selling his story.

The agency said it will try to recoup any money made by McCollum from a feature film in development about him. The movie will be called "Train Man" and actress Julia Roberts is expected to portray his defense attorney, CBS2 reported.

The MTA plans to pursue funds under the state's "Son of Sam law,'' which restricts a criminal's ability to profit off crimes.

McCollum has such a lengthy rap sheet he has his own Wikipedia page. The 50-year-old, who has Asperger's Syndrome, has been arrested 30 times for transit-related crimes.

His long time attorney has requested that his case be sent to mental health court instead of facing a jury for a potential lifetime prison sentence.

"He is on the autism spectrum. He has Asperger's," lawyer Sally Butler said.

He became a celebrity of sorts for escapades that began in 1981 at age 15, when he piloted a subway train six stops without any passengers noticing. He grew up in Queens near a station serving two MTA lines and learned the mechanics of the transit system from workers who took an interest in him.

He was arrested for trespassing into a subway control tower in 2000. In 2004, he attempted to commandeer a Long Island Rail Road train — leading to a jail sentence two years later.

In 2013, McCollum pleaded guilty to stealing a Trailways bus from a depot in Hoboken three years earlier. He had been arrested behind the wheel in 2010 on the highway that leads to John F. Kennedy International Airport.

McCollum was paroled in 2013 and ordered to undergo cognitive behavioral therapy as part of a plea deal.

His most recent arrest was in November 2015 for allegedly stealing a Greyhound bus.

The MTA said it plans to pursue the movie money under the Son of Sam law, named for the late 70's roving killer, it restricts criminals from profiting off their crimes.

"I'd love to hear what the profit is. There's nothing there," Butler said, "Yes, there is a script in Hollywood, and yes it's terrific, but that doesn't mean he is going to make a lot of money."

McCollum says he can't control his obsession with trains and buses and needs help, not jail time.

Most people seemed to side with McCollum in some way.

"Yeah towards his bail or lawyers. He should get something at least," one man said.

"Maybe it should just go to a different use, maybe people who have the same conditions as he doesn. Maybe not directly to him, but not to the MTA," a woman added.

McCollum is due back in court on April 11.

Butler said she will fight the MTA. Butler also argued that McCollum can offer great value to the MTA because he know where to find holes in the MTA security.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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