Two men charged in power substation attacks that left thousands in Washington state without power
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Two men have been charged with attacks on four Washington state power substations that left 14,000 people without power on Christmas Day.
The duo told investigators their plan was to rob a cash register at a local business, according to the criminal complaint filed Saturday in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma.
After cutting power to the area, subjecting people to a cold and dark holiday weekend, the men punched a hole in the lock of a business and robbed its cash register.
Nighttime attacks on Pierce County substations knocked out power to customers during the holidays and caused about $3 million in damage.
Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested Saturday and charged with conspiracy to damage power facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Jeremy Crahan, 40, was one of two men arrested and charged with attacking Washington state power substations over the holidays.
All four of Washington state’s power plants were attacked within hours on Christmas Day.
The four substations that were attacked were the Graham and Elk Plain substations and the Kapowsin and Hemlock substations.
Crahan and Greenwood face up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 10 years for possession of an unregistered firearm.
According to local media, prosecutors plan to request that the two men remain detained at the Federal Detention Center.
The men were first identified as possible suspects through phone records and surveillance video, according to US Attorney for the Western District of Washington Nick Brown.
Photos taken of the defendant at one of Tacoma Power’s substations show a pickup truck and a man at the scene. A similar truck was connected to the incidents.
Authorities also said distinctive clothing worn by the suspects was found during a search.
These photos were taken at one of the Washington substations attacked at Christmas.
A Tacoma Power crew works on a vandal damaged electrical substation early Christmas morning
During the search, officers also found two unregistered short-barreled handguns.
One of the seized weapons was equipped with a makeshift silencer.
Crahan and Greenwood will appear in US District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday.
Other charges may be pending.
Last week, a law enforcement official claimed that those who carried out the attack may have been trying to “send a message.”
These unregistered weapons were also found by police during a search.
Sergeant Darren Moss, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, said last week that the attackers may have been trying to “send a message.”
Sergeant Darren Moss, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, said the agency was investigating the incidents.
“We can’t confirm that,” said Sgt. Moss said, of the potential motive.
‘But obviously, we’re going to look at it that way. Four of them in one day. Christmas Day. That screams, “I want to make a point.” What point do you want to make? I dont know.’
Police were first alerted to the attacks after a worker told them about a “robbery” at one of the substations.
Agents found evidence of forced entry and damaged equipment, but nothing had been taken from the facility.
Just hours after receiving the first call, deputies were called to the second substation for another burglary report.
Agents investigated the third and fourth break-ins at almost the same time, also turning up nothing more than damaged equipment.
Prior to the arrest of Crahan and Greenwood, officials called the incident “intentional” and “criminal.”
“It was a person who chose to disrupt the livelihood of so many people on a wonderful vacation,” Tacoma Power’s Joe Wilson told Fox13 Seattle.
Power substations in Washington state were vandalized, cutting power to 14,000 people, just two weeks after seven across the United States were deliberately sabotaged.
A fire at one of the substations knocked out power to residents of the nearby communities of Kapowsin and Graham, which have a combined population of 37,000.
Most of those affected by the outages were in southeast Tacoma.
Power was finally restored to most patrons by noon, but many spent the entire day in the dark and cold of the events.
About 8,000 customers in Puget had their power restored by 5 a.m., authorities said.
Power was finally restored to most patrons by noon, but many spent the entire day in the dark and cold of the events.
In recent weeks, there have been eight attacks on power plants in Washington and Oregon.
The attacks were preceded by a warning from the federal police of a threat to the local power grid.
Tacoma Public Services did not describe the specific nature of the attack, other than a tentative time frame over Christmas weekend.
Lawmakers in previous weeks have hesitated to label the attacks domestic terrorism without suspects having been named.
Many, however, believe that is the case.
A Tacoma Power crew attached this new lock to a substation door after police took one that was cut to gain entry to the substation.
The photos show a fenced off area at one of the four sites hit near Tacoma on Sunday. The trope of attacking energy infrastructure, one expert said after the attacks, “is an old tenet of the American far-right.”
In December, Washington state law enforcement sources said they received an FBI memo warning them of possible attacks in the area.
Prior to the Washington attacks, North Carolina experienced an online attack potentially triggered by opponents of a drag show.
The shooting attack took place in the small town of Southern Pines on December 3, knocking out power to more than 40,000 residents.
Department of Homeland Security officials warned that extremists have harbored “credible and specific plans to attack electrical infrastructure since at least 2020.”
In recent weeks, there have been eight attacks on power plants in Washington and nearby Oregon, prompting them to be investigated by the FBI.
Others have argued that the US power grid, which comprises more than 7,300 plants and connects more than 145 million Americans, needs better security to prevent such attacks.
The trope of attacking energy infrastructure, the power grid or critical infrastructure “is an old tenet of the American far-right,” said Ali Winston, a journalist who has tracked terror threats.