A Jacksonville man who pleaded guilty to sabotaging central Arkansas’ power grid was on Thursday sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
Jason Woodring, who admitted to tampering with high-voltage lines and setting a switching station on fire in 2013, appeared Thursday at a restitution hearing before U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson.
Wilson agreed to the 15-year sentence prosecutors asked for earlier this year in exchange for Woodring’s guilty pleas.
Before Wilson imposed the sentence, he noted he had not heard any reference to Woodring’s motive.
“I’m interested in that before I agree to the sentence,” Wilson said.
Woodring agreed to explain why he damaged the power grid, which resulted in more than 9,000 without power and more than $4 million in damages.
Woodring told the judge that after his son passed away in 2007, he “began thinking of ways to make things better in this country.” He said he became frustrated that people weren’t paying attention to “important issues” and were instead focusing too much on “screens” and other distractions.
“I thought I was doing some good,” he said, by taking away “devices of distractions.”
Earlier this year, Woodring, 38, pleaded guilty to two counts of destruction of an energy facility, one count of using fire to commit a felony and one count of being an illegal drug user in possession of firearms and ammunition. Federal agents seized two rifles, three shotguns and 286 rounds of rifle and shotgun ammunition from Woodring's home.
Woodring caused a power failure in Cabot by rigging a high-voltage electrical tower to be pulled down onto tracks by a passing train, doused an electrical switching station on Arkansas 165 near Scott with ethanol and motor oil before igniting it, and used a stolen tractor to pull down a 1,000-volt line in Jacksonville, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported. The vandalism cost power companies more than $4.5 million in damage.
After imposing the sentence and explaining Woodring’s right to appeal, Wilson warned him that continued drug use would lead him down the wrong path.
“I urge you to do everything you can to get rid of your tendency to do drugs,” he said. “I’m not scolding you, I’m just urging you.”
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.