Federal Officials with egg on their faces are scrambling to explain why the apparent domestic terror attack on four power substations was reported as a “burglary.” Conservative media was quick to point out the absurdity. Luckily for the FBI, they had some plausible deniability when they cooked up that statement. The same guys who shot up the four power plants also robbed an unidentified “nearby company.”
A burglary after all
The latest version of the story, the one about Washington State’s Christmas Day power station attack, is that the suspects knocked out power to a whole county simply to defeat one alarm. It will be interesting to see how this new episode of the drama plays out.
It’s equally likely they either took an opportunity for some quick pocket money as an afterthought, when they realized alarms wouldn’t be working, or cooked up a simple burglary to get them out of the domestic terror charges they knew they would be facing if they happened to get caught. The feds are thrilled they have a justification for downplaying initial reports and don’t really care at this point if their story is true, since it fits the bureau’s narrative.
It seems a little excessive to take down four widely separated power stations just to defeat an alarm on one business. Hooking a chain to the nearest power pole and pulling it over with a stolen truck would have accomplished the same thing a whole lot easier, without triggering any nasty terrorism charges along with it.
NEW: two men charged in Washington Christmas #substation attacks.
Jeremy Crahan & Matthew Greenwood.
Took phones along + getaway pickup caught on camera.
Why?
Greenwood says it was to create a distraction for a burglary.
Complaint: https://t.co/D0eftpM9td pic.twitter.com/lXPHJrZXy0
— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) January 3, 2023
Local charges for burglary are a whole lot less serious than federal domestic terror or sabotage. Even the conspiracy to cook up the scheme is good for up to 20 years. Once the power was off to the alarm, “Crahan drilled out a lock and Greenwood entered to steal from the cash register.”
Starting early Christmas morning, the Graham and Elk Plain substations operated by Tacoma Power were the first to go dark. They were followed by similar attacks at Kapowsin and Hemlock substations, both operated by Puget Sound Energy.
The Tacoma Power stations are reporting “at least $3 million” in damages. That means around $6-7 million in mayhem to pull off a simple petty burglary. We believe it, feds insist. The FBI has 32-year-old Matthew Greenwood and 40-year-old Jeremy Crahan in custody. The suspects were both conveniently carrying their cell phones. Phone records place them at all the right places at all the right times.
Caught on camera too
Along with the cell phone pings, one of the substations owned by Tacoma Power “caught images of one of the suspects and a pickup truck that was tied to the two men.” When law enforcement swooped in on them “they found the same clothing caught on camera and seized two unregistered guns, one with a makeshift silencer.”
Both were charged with “conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm.” Not burglary. As confirmed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “conspiracy to attack energy facilities is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and possession of an unregistered firearm is punishable by up to ten years in prison.”
In order to commit burglary on one local business, the men carried out four separate attacks over a 12-hour period and hundreds of miles apart. They left nearly 15,000 of their neighbors without heat or lights.
DOJ have arrested Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm. Thousands throughout the region lose electricity as a result of the attacks.https://t.co/rIMP6jlaku pic.twitter.com/zDFFHOkJTQ
— Charm | DEMOCRATS deliver & NO CHAOS! 🇯🇲 💙🌊 (@CharmRobinson3) January 5, 2023
Beginning with the Hemlock substation, they cut the outer chain-link fence then sabotaged a “bank high side switch.” That knocked out 8,000 customers but apparently not their target business. They moved on to Elk Plain.
That time, they couldn’t just cut through the fence. “In order to enter the substation, padlocks on the pedestrian gates had to be removed.” Once inside, they gave it the same treatment as the last one. The third attack at Graham was an instant replay of the first one, through the fence and blow the breakers.
They were getting pretty good a cutting fences but when they “interfered with the bank high side switch and attempted to pry the linkage open” they nearly got zapped. “The substation began to arc and spark.” That one finally got the lights off at their target. Greenwood “admitted” to the FBI that “he and Crahan ‘have been preparing to disrupt power to commit a burglary,‘” That’s their story and they’re sticking to it.
