U.S. Attorney’s Offices Announces Canadian Man Pleads Guilty to Destruction of an Energy Facility for Acts in both North Dakota and South Dakota

BISMARCK - District of North Dakota United States Attorney Mac Schneider and District of South Dakota United States Attorney Alison Ramsdell announced that Cameron Monte Smith, a citizen of Canada appeared in Federal court on September 11, 2024, in Bismarck and pleaded guilty before District Court Judge Daniel M. Traynor to one count of destruction of an energy facility charged in the District of North Dakota and one count of destruction of an energy facility charged in the District of South Dakota.

Smith is facing up to 20 years of imprisonment on each count.

Smith admitted to damaging the Wheelock Substation, located near Ray, N.D., in an amount exceeding $100,000, in May of 2023. The Wheelock substation is operated by Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative and Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

Smith also admitted to damaging a transformer and pumpstation of the Keystone Pipeline located near Carpenter, South Dakota, in an amount exceeding $100,000, in July of 2022.

Smith damaged the Wheelock substation and the Keystone Pipeline equipment by firing multiple rounds from a high-power rifle into the equipment resulting in disruption of electric services to the North Dakota customers and resulting in disruption of the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota.

"This defendant deliberately and very violently attacked our nation's energy infrastructure," Schneider said. "Our law enforcement partners put an end to those attacks, and this guilty plea provides a measure of accountability for the defendant's actions and extensive damage he caused. Our career prosecutors and colleagues in the District of South Dakota deserve credit for working cooperatively to ensure this defendant faced justice in federal court."

"Cameron Smith orchestrated and executed attacks on critical energy infrastructure in North and South Dakota using a high-powered rifle," said U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell. "Thanks to our partners in the District of North Dakota, the FBI, ATF, and the National Security Division, this defendant has been held to account for his criminal activity, and he will now be subject to serious time in federal prison."

This case is being investigated by <_w3a_sdt docpart="6ED3C53931AF444F98C84ABC79E95417" id="524287765">the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Williams County (ND) Sheriff's Office, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the Clark County (SD) Sheriff's Department, and the Beadle County (SD) Sheriff's Department, and is being prosecuted by North Dakota Assistant U.S. Attorneys David D. Hagler and <_w3a_sdt docpart="5B2330FC9A7D4560AD4ADBFAA2293FCE" id="929930190">Jonathan J. O'Konek, and District of South Dakota Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Jehangiri, with the assistance of Trial Attorneys Jacob Warren and Justin Sher of the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section.