Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 43, is charged with breaking into and leaving threatening letters at Florida businesses and attacking a solar farm.
US electrical grid attacks on the rise, facility vulnerability exposed
Experts have warned for more than three decades that stepped-up security was needed for the nation’s power grid.
Scott L. Hall and Callie Carmichael, USA TODAY
A Jordanian citizen residing in Florida was arrested for targeting and attacking businesses, including an energy facility, for their perceived support for Israel, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Beginning in June, Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 43, began targeting various businesses in the Orlando, Florida, area, smashing glass doors and leaving behind “Warning Letters,” the Justice Department said, citing court records. He was charged with four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility.
“Such acts and threats of violence, whether they are targeting the places that Americans frequent every day or our country’s critical infrastructure, are extremely dangerous and will not be tolerated by the Justice Department,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Hnaihen is being held pending trial, the Justice Department confirmed. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 10 years in prison for each of the four threat charges, and a maximum of 20 years for destroying an energy facility.
Hnaihen’s public defender Aziza Hawthorne didn’t immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Court documents: Hnaihen broke into solar power facility farm in Florida
FBI Director Christopher Wray alleged that Hnaihen caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages when he allegedly broke into several businesses and attacked a power facility. Prosecutors say he broke into several businesses and left letters addressed to the United States government and said he would, “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.”
Federal prosecutors said that Hnaihen escalated his threats and broke into a solar power generator facility farm in Wedgefield, Florida, and “systematically” destroyed a string of solar panels. He is accused of smashing panels, cutting wires, and targeting critical electronic equipment, causing more than $700,000 in damage.
Authorities identified Hnaihen and arrested him on July 11, shortly after discovering a letter that threatened to “destroy or explode everything” at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando.
Attacks on energy facilities in the U.S.
Hnaihen’s alleged attack on the solar farm is the latest attack federal agencies have investigated as people previously carried out or plotted similar actions to inspire mass violence. In July, three men were sentenced to varying prison sentences for plotting to attack energy facilities in Idaho and other surrounding states to “advance their violent white supremacist ideology,” Garland said then.
That same month, the FBI arrested a New Jersey man who was wanted in connection with a white supremacist plot to attack a power grid. According to federal prosecutors, Andrew Takhistov instructed an undercover law enforcement officer to destroy a New Jersey energy facility with Molotov cocktails while Takhistov fought in Ukraine.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued warnings that domestic extremists have been developing “credible, specific plans” since at least 2020 and would continue to “encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure.” Industry experts, federal officials, and others have warned in one report after another since at least 1990 that the power grid was at risk, said Granger Morgan, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
One challenge is that there’s no single entity whose responsibilities span the entire system, Morgan said. And the risks are only increasing as the grid expands to include renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, he said.
Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver and Grace Hauck, USA TODAY
Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at knurse@USATODAY.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter,@KrystalRNurse.