Two men have been charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities in Washington state for allegedly attacking four Pierce County power substations that left thousands without power on Christmas. Photo courtesy of Tacoma Public Utilities
Jan. 4 (UPI) — Two men have been charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities in Washington state for allegedly attacking four Pierce County power substations that left thousands in the dark on Christmas.
Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested Saturday by the FBI and are being held at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac.
According to the criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, one of the substations, Tacoma Power, captured images of one suspect and a pick-up truck that appeared to be connected with the attack.
When law enforcement served a search warrant at the suspects’ home, they found clothing pictured in the surveillance photos, the Justice Department said. Agents also found two unregistered short-barreled firearms.
“I commend the work by the FBI to quickly identify these suspects and disrupt any future attacks on the east Pierce County power grid,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Nick Brown.
“We have seen attacks such as these increase in Western Washington and throughout the country and must treat each incident seriously. The outages on Christmas left thousands in the dark and cold and put some who need power for medical devices at extreme risk.”
More than 14,000 customers lost power on Christmas Day, after the suspects allegedly cut through fencing and vandalized the substations.
The four substations that were targeted were the Graham and Elk Plain substations, operated by Tacoma Power, and the Kapowsin and Hemlock stations, operated by Puget Sound Energy. Most of the power was restored the next day.
According to court documents, the attacks on the substations were an attempt to cover up a burglary at a local business.
“It’s kind of concerning that people would shut out the power to thousands just to rob a store,” Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Darren Moss Jr. told KIRO-TV.
The two men could face up to 20 years in prison if they are convicted of damaging the substations. The unregistered firearm is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to Brown.
Damage to the Tacoma Power substations alone is estimated to be at least $3 million and could take up to three years to repair.
“You can’t really put a dollar amount on some of the damage on the individuals who had their power go out,” said Brown. “People were waking up to frozen houses and feeling cold and not having electricity and heat in their homes at that time is very serious.”