TACOMA, Wash. — A former Puyallup man was sentenced to three years probation for his part in the vandalism of four substations in Pierce County in December of 2022.
Matthew Greenwood, who was sentenced Jan. 19, will have to spend a year of that probation under home confinement.
"Greenwood’s offenses were extremely serious. In furtherance of their plan to commit a series of burglaries, he and [Jeremy] Crahan broke into and damaged four electrical substations, knocking the power out for thousands of community members on Christmas Day and causing extensive financial damage," a sentencing memorandum states. "This conduct showed a disregard for the community and a terrible lack of judgment. Moreover, damaging this sort of sophisticated electrical equipment is extremely dangerous; it is fortunate that no one was injured because of these crimes, including the defendants themselves."
Crahan previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 18 months in prison. In a plea agreement, Crahan admitted he helped Greenwood vandalize four power substations and plotted to fell trees to take out power lines. Crahan shared in the planning and provided a lookout during the attacks.
According to the facts stated during Crahan's plea agreement, the two schemed to disrupt power on Dec. 25, 2022 so they could break into ATMs and businesses. On Dec. 25, 2022, they damaged substations in Puyallup, Spanaway, and two in Graham, causing 30,000 people to lose power and causing $3 million in damages.
After that vandalism, Greenwood and Crahan looked for ways to cause additional outages by felling trees. They were arrested before they could carry out that plan.
Greenwood's probationary recommendation
There were several factors in deciding to allow Greenwood to serve probation, according to the sentencing memo. His conduct on pretrial release was "impressive and commendable." That included moving to Spokane to disassociate with negative influences in Pierce County. He also underwent drug treatment and has been sober for about a year and has raised a new baby with his long-term girlfriend. He had no bond violations.
The sentencing memo notes his upbringing was "extremely difficult" and contributed to his drug abuse.
Additionally, the memo notes that Greenwood assisted the government by agreeing to a proffer interview that allowed the government to rule out domestic terrorism or ideological motives for the crimes.
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