A 33-year-old former Tacoma resident was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month for conspiracy to destroy six energy facilities, including a power substation in Oakville.

The indictment calls for forfeiture of proceeds of the criminal scheme which appears to have been an attempt to burglarize businesses and ATMs when the power was out, and alarm systems might be down.

The attacks on the power stations resulted in power outages ranging from about 1,000 customers to 6,000 customers per substation.

Zachary Rosenthal, who is currently incarcerated in the Washington State Department of Corrections for vehicular assault, was indicted in Oregon last July for damaging two energy facilities in Portland. The Oregon case is scheduled for trial on Nov. 3, 2025.

According to the Western Washington indictment, between June and December 2022, Rosenthal conspired with others to damage six different power substations in Western Washington:

The Toledo substation in Lewis County on Aug. 5, 2022.

The Woodland 1 substation in Cowlitz County on Nov. 17, 2022.

The Woodland 2 substation on Nov. 18, 2022.

The Puyallup substation in Pierce County on Nov. 20, 2022.

The Tumwater substation in Thurston County on Nov. 22, 2022.

The attempted destruction of the Oakville substation in Grays Harbor County on Dec. 5, 2022.

The indictment charges five counts of destruction of an energy facility, and one count of attempted destruction of an energy facility for the Oakville substation attack.

Rosenthal and his co-conspirators damaged the substations through a variety of means including gunshots, smashing equipment or using heavy chains to cause short circuits.

The Oregon substation attacks occurred in the same timeframe as the Washington attacks, on Nov. 24 and 28, 2022.

Damaging an energy facility with intent to cause a significant interruption and impairment of the function of the facility is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison and three years’ supervised release.

The case is being investigated by the FBI.