Ex-Tacoma resident indicted in substation attacks that caused widespread outages

A 33-year-old former Tacoma resident has been indicted for allegedly damaging multiple energy facilities across western Washington, according to a news release Thursday from acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.

Federal authorities said Zachary Rosenthal and his accomplices aimed to knock out power to disable security systems, making it easier to burglarize nearby businesses and ATMs.

“The idea was to knock out the power in a particular area, and then Rosenthal and his conspirators would then target either local businesses or ATM machines that were within the area that the power was out that were then, easier targets at that point with alarm systems and the light being deactivated,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg said.

Rosenthal is accused of attacking six power substations in the South Sound and Southwest Washington between June and December 2022. Court documents state the group targeted facilities in Lewis, Cowlitz, Pierce, Thurston, and Grays Harbor counties, causing outages that affected up to 6,000 customers at a time. The suspects allegedly used firearms, heavy chains, and physical force to damage electrical equipment.

“Sometimes they just damaged the equipment in a control room by smashing in and breaking it,” Greenberg explained. “Sometimes they use the firearm to shoot into some of the tanks to disable of the system. And other times they used the metal chains which they threw onto equipment which caused short circuits and then power outages.”

Ex-Tacoma resident linked to substation attacks previously indicted

Rosenthal was previously indicted in Oregon in July 2023 for damaging two Portland-area substations. That case is scheduled for trial on November 3, 2025. He is currently serving a prison sentence in Washington for an unrelated vehicular assault conviction.

If convicted on the federal charges, Rosenthal faces up to 20 years in prison for each count.