Renton transmission lines vandalized, deputies investigating

Image 1 of 7

▼

((King County Sheriff's Office))

RENTON, Wash. - King County Sheriff’s detectives are asking for your help to identify the suspect or suspects responsible for $60,000 in damage to equipment and transmission lines near Renton.

In mid-Dec. 2023 and early April 2024, they damaged equipment on Bonneville Power Administration’s Covington–Maple Valley 230-kilovolt transmission line near Renton.

Police say in Dec. 2023, a vandal damaged a transmission line structure.

Then on April 6, 2024, a vandal damaged equipment less than one mile away from the location of the Dec. 2023 incident.

Both incidents occurred about four miles northwest of Maple Valley’s transmission line right-of-way, which was less than a mile south of Highway 169.

Now that the repair work is done, the estimated cost is $60,000 for both incidents. This would include all time, equipment, and materials for restoration.

Bonneville had to take a transmission line out of service for a day and a half to install new fiber.

Bonneville is not aware of any customer impacts because of that outage.

The King County Sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help in these cases. If you have information, please submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers by texting the info through the P3 Tips App on your cell phone, at www.P3Tips.com or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Reference case #C23042408.

Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound is offering a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.