A second Washington man was arraigned on federal charges in Portland Tuesday for allegedly damaging two energy substations in Clackamas County in November 2022.
Zachary Rosenthal, 33, from Tacoma, is being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center on several charges including three counts of damaging an energy facility.
The attacks in 2022 were part of a national series of attempted disruptions to the electrical grid that law enforcement warned had possible ties to extremist groups. Justice Department officials have not said if they have identified a motive.
FILE: Bonneville Power Administration’s Oregon City Substation in Oregon City, Ore., Jan. 5, 2023.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
According to the court documents filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, Rosenthal damaged the Sunnyside Substation in Clackamas and the Ostrander Substation in Oregon City.
The indictment also charged Nathaniel Cheney, 30, of Centralia, Washington, with two counts of damage to an energy facility. Cheney was arrested in April and was released after being arraigned in Portland.
According to charging documents, Rosenthal and Cheney “knowingly and willfully damaged” the Sunnyside Substation in Clackamas on Nov. 28, 2022, and “attempted to cause a significant interruption and impairment of the function of the energy facility.”
Rosenthal was arraigned Tuesday on a second indictment for allegedly stealing two-dozen firearms on Jan. 4, 2023, from All That Glitters Jewelry & Loans, a pawn shop in Milwaukie, Oregon. He’s also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to federal prosecutors, Rosenthal was convicted in 2021 in King County, Washington, for taking a motor vehicle without permission and malicious mischief, both in the second degree.
Rosenthal’s defense attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.