2 men charged with attacking Washington power stations on Christmas

On Tuesday, Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40 appeared in court on charges of conspiracy to damage energy facilities. Greenwood also faces a charge of possession of an unregistered firearm. The pair could face 20 to 30 years in prison if convicted for the attacks. Greenwood could face an additional 10 years in prison for possession of an unregistered firearm.

The four substations that were targeted were the Graham and Elk Plain substations operated by Tacoma Power and the Kapowsin and Hemlock substations operated by Puget Sound Energy. The damage to the Tacoma Power substations alone is estimated to be at least $3 million and will take approximately 36 months to repair.

According to court documents, the men told law enforcement they cut the power so they could rob a nearby business. Greenwood said in a post-Miranda statement to authorities that he broke into the facilities using bolt cutters provided by Crahan and that Crahan acted as the getaway driver.

The pair allegedly broke into the four substations and manipulated the high side breaks causing the outages but did not steal or cut any wires.

While the power was out, Greenwood admitted that the pair went to a local business and said Crahan drilled the lock so they could rob the cash register.

According to court documents, "The substations are spread out over dozens of miles; the attacks occurred early in the morning and in the evening; and the first and fourth attacks were separated by over twelve hours. This makes it at least unlikely that an individual would simply happen to be at all four locations around the times they were each vandalized."

The US Department of Justice said the men were identified through cell phone location data and that video at one of the substations captured images of one of the men and his pick-up truck.

Law enforcement officials arrested the men a few days after the attack. The FBI served a search warrant over the weekend and found clothing matching what the suspects were seen wearing on the surveillance video in the men's homes.

FBI agents also seized two unregistered short-barreled firearms from Greenwood's residence, one with a makeshift silencer.

Assistant US Attorney Stephen Hobbs told the judge in US District Court in Tacoma Tuesday that the defendants should remain in federal detention because the matter is an alleged "crime of terrorism."

A detention hearing is set for Friday for Greenwood and Crahan next week and a preliminary hearing for the pair is set for January 17 at 10 am.

Last month, it was revealed in a federal law enforcement memo that "Power companies in Oregon and Washington have reported physical attacks on substations using hand tools, arson, firearms, and metal chains possibly in response to an online call for attacks on critical infrastructure."

"In recent attacks, criminal actors bypassed security by cutting the fence links, lighting nearby fires, shooting equipment from a distance, or throwing objects over the fence and onto equipment."