Attacks on Arkansas Power Grid

Attacks on Arkansas Power Grid
Perpetrator Sentenced to 15 Years

 

On the afternoon of August 21, 2013, the FBI’s Little Rock Field Office was notified by a local energy provider about a downed 500,000-volt power line near an active railroad track in Cabot, Arkansas. A power outage ensued. Company officials and local law enforcement believed that very early in the morning, someone had climbed a 100-foot tall support tower and intentionally sawed off the shackles that held up the power line, which then fell across the railroad tracks. A short time later, a train struck the line and severed it.

The FBI was called into the matter because sabotaging an energy facility and causing more than $100,000 in damage is a federal crime. According to energy company officials, the damage in this instance was $550,000.

A search of the crime scene and subsequent investigative activity by FBI Little Rock’s Joint Terrorism Task Force—aided by our local law enforcement partners and power company officials—revealed a great deal of information about what had happened.

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