Moore sheriff 'absolutely' looking at hate groups in substation attack
Authorities are investigating possible links between hate groups and the attack on the power stations in Moore County.
Months after the power grid was attacked, the investigation into who fired shots into two substations in Moore County is still moving – but slowly.
The reward for information leading to arrest has been increased to $100,000. Cameras and fencing have been installed around substations. The FBI has been involved with the investigation. However, even with all these initiatives, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields says tips are coming in more slowly now.
"We are still working on it. I have a team assigned to it," he says. "SBI and FBI are also investigating."
Sheriff says Duke Energy slowing down access to information
Fields says officials have been running into trouble with Duke Energy when trying to get information.
"If we need information, we can get it, but with a court order," he says. "It's frustrating. We have talked with the Duke officials about it."
He says it took investigators several weeks to get information they should have gotten right away.
Jeff Brooks provided a statement from Duke Energy in response, saying, "We continue to support local, state and federal investigators working to find those responsible for the attacks on our infrastructure. As part of the routine course of the investigation, we have have provided information, as requested, to support their work. All information was shared as efficiently as possible using appropriate, secure methods to assist investigators while also protecting the privacy of company operations and employees.
Hate groups under investigation
Only a few weeks after the Moore County power grid attack, there were two separate incidents of white supremacy hate banners hanging over Moore County highways.
Fields says investigators have sent the banners to the SBI to extract DNA.
"It takes time. We are still waiting on results of that," says Fields.
Fields says he doesn't know whether the banners – or the angry protests surrounding a drag show on the night of the substation attacks – are related in any way. However, he also says they won't leave any stone unturned.
When asked if he suspects any hate groups or white supremacy groups, such as the Proud Boys, Fields says he's looking into all of them.
Fields said he did see some members of the Proud Boys protesting the drag show on the same night of the substation attacks. The show in Southern Pines was about 20 minutes away from the Carthage substations.
Fields says he's not just looking into hate groups. He's also checking into disgruntled employees.
Cell phone geofencing data; interviewing people who were nearby
Fields says they've been looking into business data and nearby surveillance cameras. They had also tracked cell phones that were in that area during the time window of the attacks that night.
"We have done geofencing, trying to get info on cell phones anything in the area that time," he says.
They just recently got the cell phone data back.
"We are interviewing the folks who were in the area," he says.
The good news: That time of night there was not a significant amount of traffic, and there was a very small window on both the substations attacks.
However, Fields says it's still been very challenging.
"It's kind of like an individual hit a mailbox with a baseball bat and left," he says. "We don’t have a whole lot of evidence to go on."
Fields says they are still pushing for answers, despite any setbacks.
"To cut our power infrastructure in our county for 45,000 residents and the damaged they cost to businesses – that’s millions and millions of dollars," he says. "They are a bunch of cowards."
