First of two defendants sentenced to prison for Christmas Day 2022 attack on power substations

One of two Pierce County men who vandalized electrical substations as part of a burglary scheme, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, to 18 months in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Jeremy Crahan, 40, pleaded guilty in September 2023, admitting he joined co-defendant Matthew Greenwood in a conspiracy to knock out power so they could rob ATM machines. At the sentencing hearing Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said, “Power stations are a key part of our community, and they are key infrastructure. Our reliance on this infrastructure cannot be overstated, especially in the dead of winter. . . Causing damage to key infrastructure is not tolerable.”

“These defendants launched a scheme that left thousands of people in the cold and dark in the middle of winter, A scheme that was dangerous – for them and for the workers that had to make repairs to the high voltage equipment,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “Their motivation was greed – but all they got was a small amount of money from a restaurant cash register while doing more than $235,000 in damage.”

According to the facts in the plea agreement, Greenwood and Crahan hatched the scheme to disrupt power so they could break into ATMs and businesses and steal money. On December 25, 2022, they damaged four substations:

Read more: Department of Justice