Washington State Man Pleads Guilty to Damaging Clackamas County Power Substation

A 31-year-old man from Washington pleaded guilty this week to causing $26,000 worth of damage to an electrical substation in Clackamas county.

Nathaniel Cheney, who will be sentenced on February 18, 2026, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Cheney and others damaged the control equipment at the Sunnyside substation on November 28, 2022. Cheney was indicted by a federal grand jury in Portland on March 12, 2024.

Cheney has agreed to pay restitution in full as part of a plea agreement.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Parakram Singh and Geoffrey Barrow, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.