Progressive Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is firing back at a railroad company that has taken shots at him for not doing more to stop train burglaries in the area, despite the company's pleas for his office's assistance. 

This comes after Governor Gavin Newsom was disgusted by a ravaged rail depot - full of visible cardboard and other debris due to the thefts - in the Lincoln Heights area of the city that he visited and helped cleaned up. 

In December, rail company Union Pacific - which holds jurisdiction over crime on the rails - sent a letter to DA Gascón asking for more aggressive prosecutions for cargo thieves and an end to the no-bail policy for some defendants that Gascon wants to reduce overcrowding at jails during the pandemic.  

'These individuals are generally caught and released back onto the streets in less than twenty-four hours. Criminals boast to our officers that charges will be pled down to simple trespassing - which bears no serious consequence,' the letter from UP's California director of public affairs Adrian Guerrero said. 

UP said it experienced a 160 percent increase in criminal rail theft in LA County over the past year.  

Gascón's office had previously said it was 'committed to working with law enforcement to ensure collective safety across Los Angeles County's sprawling infrastructure, whether it's at our ports or on railroad tracks.'