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27-year-old Brandon Russell and his girlfriend, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, were arrested on February 3 for allegedly conspiring to attack a Baltimore energy facility. The couple is likely to face up to 20 years in prison.
Brandon Russell is reportedly the founder of Atomwaffen Division, a violent neo-Nazi group. The couple met in prison when both were arrested on unrelated charges.
FBI agents said that Brandon Russell mentioned plans to attack the power grid to an undercover government informant in an online chat room. Russell said that transformers should be attacked because they need almost a year to get replaced. He also shared more details with the informant regarding the attack.
Neo-Nazi leader Brandon Russell allegedly spoke to a government informant about attacking the Maryland power facility
In a probable cause affidavit, the FBI alleges that Brandon and Sarah planned to shoot and damage almost five electrical substations in Maryland. The couple planned to attack energy facilities in Perry Hall, Reisterstown, and Norrisville. The affidavit further stated:
"Russell made statements in direct messages to [an FBI informant] throughout much of 2022 regarding conducting critical infrastructure attacks, including statements about sniper attacks against substations, and how conducting a small number of attacks on electrical substations could cause a 'cascading failure.'"
Like Brandon Russell, his girlfriend was reportedly recorded sharing the attack plans with an informant of the FBI. On January 29, 34-year-old Sarah allegedly mentioned that the planned attack was “definitely doable.” Per the affidavit, she stated:
“If we can pull off what I’m hoping… this would be legendary.”
In a press release shared with Business Insider, Maryland US Attorney Erek L. Barron said,
“This planned attack threatened lives and would have left thousands of Marylanders in the cold and dark.”
According to the informant, Sarah Beth Clendaniel reportedly believed that she was suffering from a kidney disease that would kill her shortly. Thus, she wanted to execute the attack soon so she could “accomplish something worthwhile.”
The neo-Nazi leader Brandon Russell met Sarah while they were both in prison. In 2017, another member of the Atomwaffen Division named Devon Arthurs allegedly murdered two of his roommates.
Upon being arrested, Arthurs reportedly told law enforcement officers that there were plans to damage nuclear power plants across the US. The police acted upon it quickly and found bomb-making materials at Russell’s. They arrested the Neo-Nazi leader, and he met his girlfriend Sarah in prison, who was arrested for robbing convenience stores with a machete.
Russell and Sarah teamed up to destroy energy facilities across the state despite being in separate prisons. Their goal reportedly was to “lay the city to waste.” The neo-Nazi founder allegedly described the attack as “the greatest thing somebody can do.”
It was reported that Brandon Russell allegedly suggested carrying out the attack after a winter storm hits since that is when “most people are using max electricity.”
According to the government informant, Brandon Russell was planning to buy a new rifle. Sarah reportedly asked the informant to get a rifle for her while she found proper attack sites in Baltimore.
The couple appeared in Baltimore and Florida federal courts on Monday, February 6, on a charge of conspiring to destroy an energy facility.
Several attacks have focused on power grids across the US over the last year. Two of the most significant attacks were executed in Washington and North Carolina. These attacks left almost 60,000 businesses and households without electricity before the holidays.
Law enforcement officers have expressed concerns regarding safety measures of energy facilities
Addressing the recent course of events, Baltimore Gas and Electric released a statement and said,
“We hold the safety of our employees and the safety and security of our customers and communities as top priorities. Over the last decade, we have increased our level of investment in grid-hardening capital projects and monitoring and surveillance technologies to work to prevent both physical and cyber-attacks.
It further stated:
“We remain focused on improving the resiliency of the grid by stocking critical backup equipment while designing a smarter grid that isolates damage and routes power around it.”
The FBI recognizes the couple as “racially or ethically motivated extremists.” Thomas Sobocinski, FBI Baltimore Office’s special agent in charge, said,
“The accused were not just talking, but taking steps to fulfill their threats and further their extremist goals.”
Officials have shown concerns regarding energy facilities since they tend to become primary targets in terror attacks. Brian Harrell, former Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection at DHS, spoke to a news outlet and said,
“The utility sector has a real problem on its hands… A determined adversary with insider knowledge as to what to shoot and how to cripple key components is difficult to stop. This is why the energy sector invests in resilience.”
Brandon Russel’s neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division, aka the National Socialist Resistance Front, follows extreme right-wing views. It is active in the US, Canada, the UK, Italy, Ireland, and other European nations. Its ideologies are very much based on white supremacy, right-wing extremism, and neo-fascism.
