Former Puyallup man who conspired to cut power for burglary scheme sentenced to probation and home confinement

Tacoma – A 32-year-old former Puyallup, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to three years of probation including one year of home confinement for Conspiracy to destroy energy facilities, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Matthew Greenwood pleaded guilty in April 2023, admitting that he and co-defendant Jeremy Crahan, 40, vandalized four power substations and plotted to fell trees to take out power lines. Both men were arrested before the tree plan was put into action. Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo said the crime was very serious, but he also recognized that the defendant had made great progress since his arrest.

Prosecutors joined with U.S. Probation in recommending the probationary sentence so that Greenwood could continue his progress toward a drug free and law-abiding life.

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:

• Hemlock Substation in Puyallup, Washington, owned by Puget Sound Energy. Here, the two cut through a fence and Greenwood manipulated a switch damaging equipment and cutting power for 8,000 customers.
• Elk Plain substation in Spanaway, Washington, owned by Tacoma Power. The men cut padlocks on the gate and Greenwood manipulated breakers to damage equipment and cause an outage.
• Graham substation in Graham, Washington, operated by Tacoma Power. The men cut through a perimeter fence and Greenwood manipulated a switch to damage equipment. This outage, combined with the Elk Plain substation outage, caused more than 7,500 customers to lose power.
• Kapowsin Substation in Graham, Washington, operated by Puget Sound Energy. The men cut through a fence and Greenwood tampered with a switch causing sparks, flame, and a power outage.

Co-defendant Jeremy Crahan was not successful in drug treatment and was sentenced in December to 18 months in prison.

The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Tacoma Police Department, the Washington State Department of Corrections, and the Federal Protective Service.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg.