2 arrested in Pierce County power station 'attacks' facing charges in thefts at Clearwater Casino
The two men arrested in four Christmas day power station “attacks” in Pierce County, which caused $3 million in damage and left thousands without power, are also facing criminal charges in Kitsap County tied to thefts at the Clearwater Casino in Suquamish.
Though an FBI domestic terrorism agent was investigating the attacks or vandalism at substations in South Hill, Graham, Kapowsin and Elk Plain, one suspect, Mathew Greenwood, 32, told agents he and Jeremy Crahan, 40, planned to disrupt power to commit a burglary.
“While the power was out, after the Graham and South Hill attacks, the two went to a local business, Crahan drilled out a lock, and Greenwood entered to steal from the cash register,” agents wrote in charging documents filed Tuesday in the Western Washington U.S. District Court.
Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, noted the complaint filed in court indicates the motive was financial but she said domestic terrorism could not be ruled in or out at this time.
"We just don't know that yet," Langlie said.
Greenwood has pleaded not guilty to a vehicle theft charge in Kitsap County Superior Court. Crahan is facing a charge of vehicle prowling in Kitsap County District Court.
The incidents follow other attacks on electrical infrastructure in the Northwest and in North Carolina, leading to concerns about the vulnerability of the country’s energy supply and whether the outages were the result of domestic terrorism.
The first substation to be damaged was owned by Puget Sound Energy in the early morning hours of Christmas day. A substation is part of the electrical transmission grid that provides electricity to residences and businesses. That outage affected about 8,000 customers.
In the outages investigated by the FBI, the perpetrators broke in through fences and tampered with equipment but did not steal wire.
Some damage could take up to three years to repair, according to the court documents.
About 7,500 Tacoma Power customers went without electricity when the Elk Plain and Graham substations went offline, requiring it to use two mobile transformers, dropping the output from 50 megawatts to 15 megawatts.
Agents began tracking Crahan and Greenwood after inspecting cellphone data received by nearby towers, which showed phones associated with the two in the vicinity at the time of the outages.
When Greenwood was arrested in Puyallup, inside the fifth wheel trailer where he was located agents found two firearms, a short-barreled rifle with what appeared to be a homemade silencer, and a short-barreled shotgun, according to court documents.
Since both firearms have shortened barrels the owner is required to register them with the federal government. Agents alleged that Greenwood had not registered them.
Both Greenwood and Crahan were charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and Greenwood was also charged with possession of unregistered firearms.
Greenwood is also scheduled for trial Feb. 27 for a charge of second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission, a felony.
Suquamish police allege that on April 4 Greenwood stole a vehicle parked at the Clearwater Casino. Greenwood pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Adrian Pimentel, declined to comment.
In March 2021, Crahan was accused of stealing a tool box from the back of a truck parked at the casino and was charged with second-degree vehicle prowling, a misdemeanor. He failed to show up to court in June for a hearing on the charge.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Men arrested in substation 'attacks' face charges in Clearwater thefts
