Anderson Police Chief Thinks Tower Crime 'Smacks' of Terrorism

Alert Issued in Tower Case

October 22, 2003
Alex Breitler
Record Searchlight

ANDERSON — Federal investigators issued an alert across the West Coast Tuesday for a man seen removing bolts from a major transmission line tower, apparent sabotage that one official said "smacks" of an act of domestic terrorism.

Lugging large wrenches, the man on Monday pried off at least 18 bolts — each more than an inch in diameter — before witnesses intervened, said Anderson Police Chief Neil Purcell.

The witnesses chased the suspect onto Interstate 5, where he sped south into Tehama County and disappeared.

"It clearly has overviews of some kind of domestic terrorist act," Purcell said. "It certainly smacks of that."

The suspect is similar in description to a man seen removing bolts at another tower near Klamath Falls, Ore., earlier in the day, the FBI said.

Targeting transmission lines has often been a goal of left-wing extremist groups making statements about the nation's energy policies or about industrialized civilization in general, experts said.

But investigators could not say for certain whether the suspect is tied to any group.

The 115-kilovolt transmission lines receive electricity from the Central Valley Project, including power plants at Keswick and Shasta dams, and transport it to a substation in the San Joaquin Valley. From there the power is zapped to cities, irrigation districts and military bases as far south as Bakersfield.

Redding Electric Utility is one of 75 customers served by the federal transmission lines, the Western Area Power Administration said.

Ground patrols were increased Tuesday at the administration's 16,000 miles of lines in the western United States.

"There's the potential if you take all the bolts, the tower could come down," said spokesman David Christy. "We're taking this very seriously."

Three witnesses were driving in a car on I-5 about 5:10 p.m. Monday when they spotted the pickup parked on Donald Street, a narrow lane that parallels the freeway and the power lines.

The witnesses, electricians contracting for Sierra Pacific Industries, saw a man leaning down next to one of the towers, Purcell said.

"They thought that it was rather suspicious," said the chief, who declined the name the witnesses. "They decided, 'Let's make it our business.' "

As they drove down Donald Street, the heavyset man jumped over the barbed-wire fence with tools in hand and sped off, Purcell said.

The witnesses followed, watching as the man ran a stop sign at Riverside Avenue and nearly caused two accidents, the chief said.

He headed south on I-5. The witnesses called the California Highway Patrol on a cell phone and chased him as far south as Bowman Road, where they saw a CHP car and stopped following.

"They figured that the guy would be stopped and picked up," Purcell said.

But a bulletin issued by Anderson police had not yet reached all CHP units, and the suspect was never pulled over.

Officers went to the tower and found one of its four legs had been completely unbolted, while another had half its bolts missing. The bolts were later replaced.

The suspect, whom the witnesses said carried large wrenches, must have gone to "a fair amount" of effort to remove the bolts and nuts, Purcell said.

If arrested, he could face a federal charge of destroying an energy facility.

About three hours earlier, a suspicious truck was spotted parked at a 500-kV line in southern Oregon. When utility workers approached, the truck sped away. Seven bolts had been removed from the tower footings.

FBI special agent Karen Ernst in Sacramento said no arrests had been made. Agents were hoping to interview the man, who was described as white, in his early 60s with long, blackish-gray hair and a salt-and-pepper beard.

He may have carried with him a white hard hat, Ernst said.

"The description of the individual is similar at both locations," she said. "Right now we would just like to locate and identify" him.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was also notified of the suspicious circumstances.

Purcell said the tampering is similar to that seen by groups like the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), considered by the FBI to be one of the biggest domestic terrorist-based movements in the country.

The ELF broke away from Earth First!, which has disrupted power lines in the past, said Ron Arnold, vice president of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, which has studied eco-terrorism.

"It could be nothing," said Arnold. "It could be somebody who decided he would like to unwind a few nuts, just for entertainment. But I don't think so."

An anonymous spokesperson for ELF said the group had heard nothing about the alleged sabotage. Reporter Alex Breitler can be reached at 225-8344 or at abreitler@redding.com.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

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