Washington man charged with damaging energy facilities in Clackamas County

A Washington man who is accused of damaging two energy facilities in Clackamas County in 2022 was arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Portland.

Zachary Rosenthal, 33, of Tacoma, was indicted on charges of intentionally damaging the Bonneville Power Administration's Ostrander Substation in Oregon City and the Portland General Electric's Sunnyside Substation in Clackamas with the aim of disrupting operations.

Rosenthal was charged with inflicting more than $100,000 in damage to the Ostrander Station and causing more than $5,000 worth of damage to the Sunnyside Substation on Nov. 24 and 28, 2022, according to the indictment.

The indictment also names a man accused of being an accomplice, also from Washington, Nathaniel Adam Cheney, 33, of Centralia. Cheney also is accused of causing damage to the Sunnyside Substation. He was arraigned in April and is scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 20.

A second indictment unsealed Tuesday charged Rosenthal with stealing 24 firearms from a federal firearms licensee in January 2023 and illegally possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

Rosenthal pleaded not guilty on all charges and was detained until further court proceedings.

The attacks were part of a series of attacks on substations in Oregon and Washington in 2022 that may have been tied to Neo-Nazi extremist groups, OPB reported.

Convictions of charges of causing more than $100,000 in damage to an energy facility are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and three years' supervised release, while convictions on charges of causing more than $5,000 in damage are punishable by up to five years in prison with three years' supervised release.

Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at ifunk@statesmanjournal.com or on X at @isabeldfunk