Men charged with Christmas vandalism of 4 electrical substations in Washington state

Authorities have charged two men in the vandalism of four electrical substations in Washington state on Christmas Day, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Puyallup, Washington, residents Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested Saturday. The two are accused of vandalizing the Hemlock, Graham, Kapowsin and Elk Plain substations on Christmas, leaving more than 15,000 residents without power, according to the Associated Press.

The first three incidents took place on Christmas morning. 

Authorities say that at 2:39 a.m., Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Crahan cut open a chain link fence to access the Hemlock facility, operated by Puget Sound Energy (PSE). The pair then manipulated a “bank high side switch” to disable the power, knocking out power for 8,000 customers, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

At around 5:30 a.m., Tacoma Power, operator of the Elk Plain substation, received word the station was offline. The utility informed authorities the padlocks were cut and the high side breakers turned off. Tacoma Power also acquired surveillance footage showing Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Crahan, the Justice Department said.

At 6 a.m., Tacoma Power was informed the Graham station had gone offline, with its own chain link fence cut into and its high side breakers also shut off. The two Tacoma Power outages affected 7,000 customers.

The duo then waited hours, according to authorities, before alarms went off at Kapowsin, operated by PSE, at around 7:21 p.m. Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Crahan are accused of cutting into the fence and trying to pry open a linkage after tampering with the bank high side switch and causing the station to arc electricity and spark, starting a fire.

Power went out for homes in Graham and Kapowsin, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Crahan are believed to have knocked out the power to burglarize an unspecified business and loot its cash register, according to the Associated Press. 

The main financial damages were incurred by Tacoma Power. Damaged de-energizer taps at the Elk Plain and Graham substations will cost about $3 million and take three years to repair.

The output, now forced to go through mobile transformers, has dropped from 50 megawatts to 15 megawatts, according to the criminal complaint.

Phone records and surveillance footage helped authorities obtain a search warrant for the two suspects, which uncovered distinct clothing identified in footage as well as two unregistered short-barrel firearms, a shotgun and a rifle with a makeshift silencer.

“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,” said Richard Collodi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office.

The two are charged with conspiracy to attack energy facilities, which carries up to 20 years in prison, and possession of unregistered firearms, which carries up to 10 years in prison.