Tacoma man accused of sabotaging 6 substations in WA state, as well as 2 in Oregon
A Tacoma man who already is accused of damaging two Portland-area energy substations has now been indicted on broader allegations alleging he also conspired to destroy six substations in Washington state.
Zachary Rosenthal, 33, is now charged with conspiracy to destroy substations, five counts of destruction of a substation and one count of attempted destruction of a substation, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
The new indictment alleges he and others damaged six substations in western Washington between June and December 2022: 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. 22, 2022 and the Tumwater substation in Thurston County on Nov. 22, 2022; and attempted to destroy the Oakville substation in Grays Harbor County on Dec. 5, 2022.
The attacks included shooting equipment or using heavy chains to smash equipment to cause short circuits, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle. They caused power outages to 1,000 to 6,000 customers per substation, prosecutors said.
One of the alleged motives was to make it easier to burglarize businesses and ATMs when power was out in a community, according to prosecutors.
The attacks on Oregon substations are alleged to have occurred during the same timeframe.
In Oregon, Rosenthal is accused of causing more than $100,000 in damage to the Ostrander substation in Oregon City on Nov. 24, 2022, and more than $5,000 in damage to the Sunnyside substation in Clackamas four days later.
Separately, Rosenthal is accused of stealing 24 guns from All That Glitters Jewelry & Loans, a federal firearms licensee in Milwaukie, on Jan. 4, 2023, and illegally possessing the guns as a convicted felon.
In July 2024, he pleaded not guilty to all federal charges pending in federal court in Portland.
Rosenthal is in custody in Washington state, accused of a vehicular assault. He has not yet appeared in federal court in Seattle on the new indictment, according to court records.
