A federal judge has sentenced a Maryville man to 10 months in prison for damaging equipment at a Blount County natural-gas metering and regulation station, an incident that briefly turned into a neighborhood scare. The May 9, 2025, release forced the temporary evacuation of about 430 residents and 19 businesses and led authorities to shut down northbound lanes of Alcoa Highway while emergency crews secured the site.
The sentence follows a December guilty plea by 36-year-old Christopher Kyle Duke. As reported by WBIR, the judge also ordered Duke to serve two years of federal supervised release after his prison term.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Duke climbed a chain-link, barbed-wire fence at the Enbridge-operated East Tennessee Natural Gas metering station and released multiple valves, triggering an immediate high-pressure emergency release. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the sabotage damaged equipment used to monitor, meter, and regulate transmission to customers and caused thousands of dollars in damage and loss, per the press release (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
Impact on neighbors and traffic
The emergency release prompted nearby residents and businesses to evacuate for about half an hour while first responders worked the scene and checked the facility. tracked the case from Duke’s May 2025 arrest through his federal plea in December and noted the local disruption the incident caused…