A Washington man pleads not guilty in connection with 2022 attacks on an Oregon electrical grid [Video]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Washington state man has pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of damaging power substations in Oregon in 2022.

Nathaniel Cheney appeared in federal court in Portland on Wednesday and was later released from custody, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. He was arrested April 2 after he was indicted in March on two counts of damage to an energy facility.

Charging documents allege Cheney broke into the Ostrander substation in Oregon City on Nov. 24, 2022, and “knowingly and willfully damaged” the Sunnyside Substation in Clackamas four days later.

At the Oregon City substation, Cheney and an unidentified accomplice are accused of cutting a perimeter fence and shooting at pieces of equipment, according to a Bonneville Power Administration security memo sent to law enforcement after the vandalism.

In early 2022, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security reportwarned that domestic extremists had been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020 in part, a federal law enforcement official said, because …