Stephen Plato McRae, Substation Sabotage, Utah 2016

Stephen Plato McRae, 59, of Escalante, Utah, admitted in federal court Friday to blasting rounds from a Springfield 30-40 rifle into the cooling fins of the Buckskin Electrical Substation, crippling the facility and plunging two counties into darkness. The attack on Sept. 25, 2016, wasn’t a random act of vandalism—it was a direct assault on critical infrastructure, one that federal prosecutors say endangered public safety and cost taxpayers and utilities hundreds of thousands.

McRae pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to one count of destruction of an energy facility, a charge that stems from a February 2017 indictment. As part of a binding plea agreement, he admitted to deliberately targeting the Garkane Energy Cooperative-owned substation in Kane County, rupturing radiator piping with rifle fire. The damage forced the facility to overheat and fail, triggering a power outage across Kane and Garfield counties—disrupting homes, businesses, and emergency services.

The destruction came at a steep price: Garkane Energy Cooperative spent $380,522 to repair the sabotage. The plea deal includes a stipulated sentence of 96 months in federal prison, a term that will be formally considered by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart at sentencing on July 30, 2019. McRae is currently in federal custody and faces up to three years of supervised release upon completion of his sentence.

Even more alarming, McRae admitted to a pattern of similar attacks stretching beyond Utah. Under the plea agreement, he confessed to damaging substations in Libson Valley, San Juan County (April 1, 2015), Quinn River in Humboldt County, Nevada (Aug. 31, 2016), and Baker Substation in White Pine County, Nevada (Sept. 14, 2016). Though not charged for these additional acts, the court will weigh them as relevant conduct in sentencing.

As part of the deal, McRae agreed to pay full restitution—$380,522—to Garkane Energy Cooperative. He’s also barred under the plea terms from residing in or traveling through six Utah counties—Garfield, Kane, Wayne, Juab, Iron, and Washington—during his supervised release, all areas where Garkane operates facilities. Federal prosecutors agreed to drop two additional charges: possession of a firearm by a restricted person and possession of a controlled substance, both pending dismissal at sentencing.

The investigation was led by FBI Special Agents and members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, with support from the Bureau of Land Management, Kane County Sheriff’s Office, Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada, and White Pine County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada. Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Utah are handling prosecution. U.S. Attorney John W. Huber, FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul Haertel, and Kane County Sheriff Tracy Glover confirmed the plea Friday afternoon, marking a rare federal prosecution of sustained attacks on the nation’s power grid.

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