Accused: Cut power in bid to aid society

Damage to electric system to cost him 15 years, $4.8M

The Jacksonville man who vandalized power lines and set an electrical switching station on fire in the fall of 2013, causing power failures and costing two electric companies $4.8 million for repairs, told a judge Thursday that he had been only trying to help society.

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"We live in uncertain times," Jason Woodring, 38, said after U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson -- who was deciding whether to approve a 15-year prison sentence deal that Woodring negotiated with federal prosecutors -- asked the question whose answer everyone was waiting to hear: Why did Woodring do it?

Sitting in Wilson's Little Rock courtroom next to defense attorney Chris Tarver, Woodring stood up and spoke after Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon told the judge that he believed that Woodring wanted to explain his actions in his own words.

"I've talked to a lot of people in the last 15 years from all walks of life," Woodring said. "Black, white, rich, poor, male, female. The consensus seems to be that things are getting worse in society."

After his infant son died in 2007, he said, "I kind of stepped back and tried to find ways to make things better. ... I started to show people what I was learning, and get them involved ... but everybody was too busy with these distractions." He referred to cellphones, televisions and other electronic devices.

"I got frustrated trying to get everybody's attention," he said. "I thought that if I could take the power out, it would take away all these things that distract people ... and we could all listen to what's really important."

Woodring said he had observed how people from all backgrounds tended to unite during an emergency, such as in the aftermath of a hurricane, and said he feared that "if the majority of people don't become involved trying to make things better, our society is going to fall apart."

He admitted March 10 that over a period of weeks, he climbed up on an electrical support tower and sabotaged it by loosening screws to ensure that a 500,000-volt power line would fall onto a railroad track near Cabot -- which it did when a train carrying hazardous waste sped by.

He also admitted setting fire to a high-voltage switching station in Scott and using a stolen tractor to pull down a power line in Jacksonville. The vandalism on Aug. 21, Sept. 29 and Oct. 6 resulted in thousands of customers of Entergy and First Electric Cooperative losing power temporarily, and initially caused federal agents to suspect terrorism.

"When I went up there on that 500,000-volt power line, I actually thought I was going to be helping people," Woodring said.

Wilson acknowledged the explanation without comment, and then said he would accept the agreement through which Woodring pleaded guilty to four of the eight charges he faced in return for a 15-year sentence in federal prison, where parole isn't an option.

Wilson said Woodring would be required to participate in a mental health program while in prison and ordered him to serve five years of supervised probation after his release.

The judge also ordered Woodring to make restitution to the power companies totaling $4,840,953. The bulk of that -- $4,792,224 is to reimburse Entergy for his attacks on power lines and the electrical tower near Cabot, as well as the switching station near Scott. The remaining $48,729 is to First Electric, to cover repairs on downed equipment in Jacksonville.

Woodring pleaded guilty in March to two counts of destruction of an energy facility and single counts of using fire to commit a felony and being a methamphetamine user in possession of guns and ammunition.

"I urge you to do anything you can to get rid of your dependence on drugs," Wilson told him after imposing the sentence.

"That's my plan," Woodring said before shaking hands with his attorney and letting federal marshals escort him away.

Meanwhile, Woodring is due in Pulaski County Circuit Court on June 29, where attorney Sandy Cordi, an assistant public defender, said in April that he had accepted an offer from prosecutors to resolve state charges against him. He faces two charges of first-degree criminal mischief in connection with damage done to another man's pickup in 2010 and a woman's car in early 2013. He's also due in Lonoke County Circuit Court on Wednesday in regard to drug and gun charges he faces there.

Metro on 06/19/2015

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