In connection with assaults on four electric substations in Washington state, two individuals have been detained.
According to a Department of Justice press statement, Jeremy Crahan, 40, and Matthew Greenwood, 32, both of Puyallup, Washington, was taken into custody on Saturday. They are accused of plotting an attack on energy facilities.
According to a criminal complaint made against the two males, the attacks happened on Christmas Day.
The attack caused damage to the Graham and Elk Plain substations run by Tacoma Power as well as the Kapowsin and Hemlock substations run by Puget Sound Energy. In each instance, a switch was tampered with and a chain link fence was cut in order to shut off the electricity.
According to the complaint, the power outage left 7,500 Tacoma Power customers in the dark. 15,500 customers overall were without electricity, according to Axios.
An estimate of $3 million was made for the Tacoma Power substation damage. According to the complaint, fixing the harm might take up to 36 months.
The complaint claims that one of the attack suspects was located using surveillance footage from the substations. The identification of a car observed at one substation with a vehicle owned by one suspect was also made using surveillance film.
In order to identify which cell phones were near each of the damaged substations, the FBI also tracked telephones.
According to the complaint, Greenwood allegedly told police that substations were attacked as a prelude to a burglary after they were apprehended.
According to the lawsuit, a local shop was broken into after the lights went out, and cash was taken from the cash register. The company’s name and location were not disclosed.
BREAKING: Two men have been arrested and charged in connection to the power substation attacks in Pierce County. Federal agents and local law enforcement arrested them on New Year's Eve. INFO: https://t.co/6fg3hLz3nE @komonews pic.twitter.com/W9YvjDDzSi
— Jeremy Harris (@JeremyHarrisTV) January 3, 2023
Just got a prior booking photo for Jeremy Crahan. Pierce County court records show he has extensive priors for theft, forgery, fleeing police, burglary. https://t.co/6fg3hLz3nE @komonews pic.twitter.com/S3AHyOBWlY
— Jeremy Harris (@JeremyHarrisTV) January 3, 2023
The complaint states that two firearms were found: a short-barreled rifle with what it claims to be a handmade suppressor and a short-barreled shotgun. Both were unregistered, which resulted in a charge of gun possession against Goodman.
The two men are to be jailed without bond, according to federal prosecutors.
According to the Yakima Herald, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Hobbs declared during the men’s court appearance on Tuesday that “this is a felony of terrorism.”
The attack was not a unique incident, according to U.S. Attorney Nick Brown, who was quoted in a Justice Department news release.
“We have seen attacks such as these increase in Western Washington and throughout the country and must treat each incident seriously,” Brown said. “The outages on Christmas left thousands in the dark and cold and put some who need power for medical devices at extreme risk.”
According to WFAE-TV, two substations in North Carolina were assaulted earlier in December. Due to the incident, 45,000 consumers lost power.
In the North Carolina incident, where firearms were used to shoot at the stations to disrupt power, no one has been detained.