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The crimes were allegedly committed at four coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.
Michael Garrison, of Croydon, PA, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to destroy an energy facility, eight counts of wire fraud, two counts of destruction of an energy facility, and one count of filing a false tax return, Romero said.
Starting in 2018 and continuing until August 2021, Romero said, Garrison broke into shuttered coal-fired power plants that had been decommissioned, including Titus Station in Berks County, Cromby Station in Chester County, Southward Generating Station in Philadelphia, and the Gould Street Generating Station in Baltimore, Maryland, in order to steal copper wire and other metal, which he then sold to scrap yards in Philadelphia.
Between January 2020 and August 2021, Garrison sold stolen scrap on approximately 175 separate occasions to a Philadelphia scrap yard, for which he was paid more than $117,000, Romero said.
But the payment the defendant received paled in comparison to the damage he caused to the power plants, she said.
In the summer of 2021 alone, Garrison caused more than $1.5 million worth of damage to Titus Station in order to expose and pull the copper wire and other metal that he stole from that facility, Romero said.
Garrison also is charged with filing a false 2020 U.S. Income Tax Return that failed to declare the more than $62,000 he was paid that year from the Philadelphia scrap yard.
“Stealing or vandalizing energy facilities – operational or not – is a federal offense which will be vigorously prosecuted by our Office,” Romero said.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael S. Lowe and Judy Smith.
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