Electric Power Utility Substation Sabotage Megathread

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15. Two charged with attacks on four Pierce County power substations

From blogslug

Tue Jan 3, 2023: Two charged with attacks on four Pierce County power substations

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/two-charged-attacks-four-pierce-county-power-substations

Attacks over the Christmas holiday caused $3 million in damage and cut power to thousands

Tacoma – Two Puyallup, Washington, men will appear in U.S. District Court in Tacoma today charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested Saturday, December 31, 2022, following a fast-moving investigation by the FBI. Prosecutors will ask that both men remain detained at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac pending future hearings.

“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 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.”

“I am so thankful for how quickly and diligently our investigators and partners worked to bring this to a resolution,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Seattle field office. “This case took many of them away from their families during the holidays but through their efforts, we have two men in custody we believe to be responsible for all four power station attacks. This demonstrates the commitment by all levels of law enforcement to protect our infrastructure and hold those accountable who put our community in danger.”

According to the criminal complaint filed with the court late Saturday, December 31, 2022, and unsealed today, the two men were identified as possible suspects through the analysis of cell phone records. At one of the substations, Tacoma Power captured images of one suspect and the image of a pick-up truck that appeared to be connected with the attack. A similar pick-up truck was connected to the defendants. When law enforcement served a search warrant on the home of the suspects, they recovered distinctive clothing pictured in the surveillance photos. Agents also seized two short-barreled firearms that had not been registered as required by law. One of the firearms was equipped with a make-shift silencer...