As the federal government pursues prosecutions for increased instances of electric grid sabotage across the country this winter, two men were charged Tuesday in connection to four substation attacks in western Washington state over Christmas.
Two people have been charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Up to 20 years in prison is the maximum for the first offense, while 10 years is the maximum for the second offense.
Thousands of people were left in the dark and cold over the Christmas holiday after four substations were attacked.
The damage to the Graham and Elk Plain substations is estimated to be at least three million dollars. The Kapowsin and Hemlock Substations were sabotaged. On Tuesday, the criminal complaint was made public.
There are power outages in North Carolina and Washington and Oregon.
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The two men are expected to be in court later Tuesday.
Brown praised the FBI for identifying the suspects and disrupting any future attacks on the power grid. There has been an increase in attacks in Western Washington and throughout the country and must be treated seriously.
The special agent in charge of the FBI's Seattle field office said he was thankful for how quickly and diligently investigators and partners worked to bring this to a resolution. The 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 the power station attacks. The commitment by law enforcement to protect our infrastructure and hold those who put our community in danger is demonstrated by this.
The two men were identified as possible suspects through the analysis of cellphone records.
Prosecutors claim that a pickup was connected to the defendants. Law enforcement recovered distinctive clothing when they served a search warrant on the home of the suspects. Two firearms that had not been registered were seized by agents. The complaint states that one of the firearms had a make-shift silencer.
The case is being investigated by the FBI with assistance from a number of agencies.
The press release praised the assistant U.S. Attorneys who worked around the clock to get the search warrants.
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The FBI joined the investigation in Moore County, North Carolina, where tens of thousands of people were left without electricity and schools were closed for days because of criminal gunfire. There are no suspects in that case. In response to online calls to damage critical infrastructure, Homeland Security had been watching attacks on power stations in Oregon and Washington.
Corbett Riner was a contributor to this report.
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