Man sentenced in federal court for Christmas Day attack on Pierce County power substations

TACOMA - When four east Pierce County electrical substations were sabotaged on Christmas Day 2022, cutting power to thousands, the crimes made national headlines. It wasn’t until the two perpetrators were caught that authorities learned the crimes weren’t terrorism but instead a botched plan to burglarize businesses.

On Friday, one of the men, former Puyallup resident Matthew Greenwood, 32, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to three years of probation, including one year of home confinement. His co-conspirator, Jeremy Crahan, 40, was sentenced in December to 18 months in prison.

The stations targeted were the Graham and Elk Plain substations operated by Tacoma Power and the Kapowsin and Hemlock substations operated by Puget Sound Energy.

In the days after the attacks, prosecutors said FBI agents surveilled Crahan and Greenwood, observing them lurking late at night near other power stations. Greenwood later admitted they planned to fell trees to cause more outages. They brought a chainsaw while they scouted power lines. They were arrested in January 2023 before they could follow through on the plan.

On Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge David Estudillo called the crimes “very serious” but noted that Greenwood had made progress since his arrest. Prosecutors and U.S. Probation recommended the probationary sentence.

According to the plea agreement, Greenwood and Crahan wanted to disrupt power so they could break into ATMs and businesses to steal money. Crahan acted as a lookout while Greenwood entered the facilities. They cut fences and padlocks and then damaged enough equipment to cause power failures, plunging thousands into a dark and cold Christmas.

Crahan was not successful in drug treatment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.