The FBI announced a reward of up to $25,000 Tuesday for information that leads to the arrest of the person who tried to sabotage an electrical substation in Torrance last August.
Images from security video shared by the FBI show a person wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a long tan coat near the facility, and agents said they believe this is the person who shut off circuit breakers and fired a gun into a transformer at the substation owned by Southern California Edison on Madrona Avenue in Torrance.
“Because of the nature and the extent of the damage done to the facility and the area that it covered, the electrical service that it provided, had the infrastructure failed, the result would have been a large swath of people losing power," FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jason Dalton told the I-Team.
The FBI is investigating the case because it affected the national electric system, and interfering with it is a federal crime.
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There was no disruption to the power grid, officials said.
Dalton said the motive for the Torrance attack won't be known until the person responsible is caught but added the FBI has investigated a number of power station sabotage incidents in recent years.
“Our country's critical infrastructure, including electrical infrastructure, is a target for individuals that have an ideological motivation, who wish to cause harm to our country," he said.
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In February 2022, three men pleaded guilty in Ohio in a plot to attack electric substations although they were arrested before the attacks could be carried out.
Federal prosecutors said the men followed a white supremacist ideology and wanted to create unrest and trigger a race war.
In December 2022, authorities in North Carolina said there were deliberate gunfire attacks on two power stations, and later that month, power was cut to four electric substations near Tacoma, Washington.
Two men were arrested in the Washington incident, which authorities later said appeared to be an attempt by the men to cause a power outage in order to carry out several burglaries.
In February 2023, FBI agents in Baltimore arrested two men in another plot to disable power stations in an alleged racially motivated scheme to, "completely destroy the city."
Edison referred questions about the August incident to the FBI but said the security of its facilities is a high priority.
"Southern California Edison uses a defense in depth strategy at our facilities to deter, detect, and respond to security events," said Brian Leventhal, a spokesperson for the utility.
