A California engineer has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for the bombing of Pacific Gas & Electric transformers in the San Jose area.
Peter Karasev, 39, received a 120-month sentence Tuesday from Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after he pleaded guilty in April to two counts of “willful destruction of an energy facility.”
Karasev had admitted to using homemade explosive devices to bomb energy facilities on two separate occasions. An attack in December 2022 destroyed a transformer and cut power for nearly 1,500 PG&E customers for hours. Another January 2023 attack damaged a transformer and a building.
“Karasev’s attacks on critical infrastructure were direct threats to public safety and national security,” Craig Missakian, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said in a Justice Department statement announcing the sentencing.
