FBI probes vandalism of 4 power substations

Two more Utah Power substations were vandalized Sunday night, bringing the total to four since late January.

One of those Sunday night incidents caused a temporary power outage. Officials remain unsure, however, if the four incidents are connected.

The latest cases occurred at substations near 3900 S. West Temple and near 3600 South and 1000 West.

Damage to the substation on West Temple caused about 3,700 residents to lose power, but it was restored less than a half-hour later, Utah Power spokeswoman Margaret Oler said.

At the 3600 South substation, someone apparently scaled the fence, tampered with some of the boxes inside and tried to shut down power, South Salt Lake police Capt. Chris Snyder said. The effort was unsuccessful, he said.

Those two incidents followed another one Saturday night at a substation in Taylorsville. About 7,700 customers lost power for about 43 minutes Saturday when a substation at 1175 W. 4500 South was tampered with, Oler said.

On Jan. 27 someone scaled the fence of a Holladay substation, 1954 E. 4780 South, and disrupted service to about 3,600 customers for less than an hour. Utah Power has even offered a $2,000 reward for information leading the arrest and conviction of those responsible in the Holladay incident.

Authorities are trying to determine if the incidents are the result of pranks as opposed to acts of terrorism. The FBI is investigating.