PINEHURST — The Moore County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a mass power outage across the county as a criminal occurrence, the department said on Saturday night.
Just after 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, several different communities across Moore County began experiencing power outages.
The department said as utility companies began responding to the different substations, evidence was discovered that indicated that intentional vandalism had occurred at multiple sites.
Moore County Sheriff’s Deputies and various other law enforcement agencies within the county responded to the different areas and are providing further site security, according to Sheriff Ronnie Fields in a statement.
In a statement posted on Duke Energy’s website, the company said, “equipment failures resulting in widespread power outages occurred across parts of Moore County Saturday evening. We are actively investigating signs of potential vandalism related to these outages. Crews continue to assess damage in the areas affected and will provide additional information as soon as possible. We also will adjust our estimated times of restoration as more detail becomes available.”
As of 10:45 a.m. on Sunday, the number of outages stands at approximately 38,000 customers.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Moore County Sheriff’s Office at 910-947-2931.
